When I'm Alone With You
by Unwritten Whispers
Summary: Everybody always sets Hermione's cousin up on blind dates that never work out for her. But this time Ginny and Blaise decides to match her up to the only other person just like her. Draco Malfoy! How does Draco react to being set up with a Granger when she's just like him? HG/DT GW/BZ PP/SF HP/LL RW/LB DM/OC
1. Call Me

**Disclaimer: Any character you recognize belongs to JK Rowling. Whoever you don't, belongs to me! At the end of each chapter, I'll put a disclaimer for each song.**

**Quick Summary: This is a little short story that I had that's been bugging me. It's no longer than 10 chapters, and is already completely pau on my laptop! Basically, each chapter is a song-fic! Hermione/Dean, Ginny/Blaise, Pansy/Seamus, Harry/Luna, Ron/Lavender! Everybody always sets Hermione's cousin up on blind dates that never work out for her. But this time, Ginny and Blaise decide to match her up to the only other person exactly like her. Draco Malfoy! How does Draco react to being set up with a Granger, and how does he feel when he finally meets his match?**

Call Me

Holding her toes in her hands, she rested her feet against the edge of the glass table in front of the cream colored leather couch she was sitting on. Pink and silver colored nail polishes were scattered on top of the table, along with a nail file, nail clippers, a trash can, cottoned balls, and a bottle of lemon scented nail polish remover. Music blasted throughout the flat, while the aroma of nail polish, and remover took over. Singing along with the song, she continued to paint her toes. She painted every other toe pink, while making the others silver.

_Wrap me in a bolt of lightning,_

_Send me on my way still smiling._

_Maybe that's the way I should go,_

_Straight into the mouth of the unknown._

_I left the spare key on the table,_

_Never really thought I'd be able_

_To say I merely visit on the weekend._

_I lost my whole life and a dear friend_

_I've said it so many times_

_I would change my ways._

_No, never mind…_

_God knows, I've tried._

Ignoring the fireplace as its flames started to roar into a bright, almost neon green shade, she continued to lightly pinch her baby toe in her fingers as she painted it the pearly pink color. Hearing a familiar deep voice turn her music down with an equally familiar muttered spell, she didn't bother to lift her head up. She already knew who it was. She didn't have to look up in order to see the familiar dark skin tone with the piercing indigo eyes, and the bouncing black curls. She didn't have to use her eyes to already know he was dressed in the same long black dress slacks that he always wore along with one of his rich colored turtle neck sweaters. He always dressed the same, never leaving any room for the element of surprise.

"Knock knock," called out the smooth voice.

Smiling down at her toes, she continued to paint them, "Hullo Blaise. What brings you here today?"

"Ginny told me you broke up with the wanker you were seeing."

Chuckling at how straight forward he was, she nodded her head. "Yes I did. I'm sure that you, Seamus and Dean are all excited."

"As well as Harry and Ron," Blaise chuckled, sitting on the cream colored suede couch chair across from the girl who was very interested in her toes. "Is there a reason you're painting your nails?" he asked her.

"The old paint was beginning to chip," she shrugged her shoulders. "And you should know me by now, Blaise. I can't stand to have a color on my nails for more than two weeks. I've been wearing that horrid green color for at least three weeks now."

"Do you miss him?"

"Oh god no," pleased with the colors of her toes, she finally looked up. Smirking as she realized she was correct, and that Blaise was wearing one of his many emerald colored turtle necks with his black slacks, she folded her arms over her chest. "I was only with him this long to prove to Seamus and Dean that I could stay with a guy for more than two months."

"So you decided to stay with him for two months and one day?"

"Don't judge me," she scolded him as if he were a child when she saw the way he cocked just one eyebrow at her. There was a glint in his indigo colored eyes, and when she saw the way he began to scratch at his jaw, she quickly shook her head. "No, Blaise."

"No Blaise, what?" he asked with a grin on his face.

"I'm sick of being set up," she groaned, already knowing why he was here. "If it didn't work with any of Seamus's mates or any of Dean's mates, or one of Ron's endless amount of cousins, it won't work with any of your mates."

Blaise laughed a little. He had to hand it to the girl. She was smart. Then again, she was related to the brightest-witch-of-their-age. "I'm only concerned for you, Rose," he told her. "And besides, you know by now that if I don't set you up this time, you're going to get stuck with another Auror."

"What?" quickly counting the endless amounts of blind dates that she had been sent on, she groaned. "It's Harry's turn to try to marry me off this time, isn't it?"

"They only mean well."

"I'm not a witch, Blaise," she chastised, feeling herself going into a lecture. "I don't have to be in a serious relationship at only twenty-two. I don't need to be married off with kids already. I'm still only young. I've got my career to think of. I just want to be able to go out on a night in the town, and not worry about being in love. Why can't they see that?"

"Because, my darling," he chastised her as well, "Ginny is a witch. Hermione is a witch. Pansy is a witch. Luna, and Lavender? They're witches as well. And they're all concerned that you aren't in love yet. They were all settled down when they were only eighteen years old, and only months after we all fought in a war. They're worried that if they can do it, then why can't you?"

She sighed. She's heard this all before. "And you guys?" she asked him. "You, Dean, Seamus, Harry and Ron, what do you all think of this?"

"We just don't want to have to hear our witches complaining about it anymore," Blaise sheepishly admitted to her. "And once Hermione owled everyone to tell them that you broke up with that wanker of yours, Ginny pounced on me. And not in the fun way either, mind you. None of us ever liked any of the muggle blokes you've been bringing home, and you obviously don't like any of the wizards that we've been introducing you to, so Ginny and I have the perfect bloke in mind for you."

"It isn't another Hufflepuff is it?" her face paled as she thought back to the last time Dean tried to set her up with one of their old school mates.

Blaise snorted, "Oh Merlin no," he shook his head. "This is one of my mates. Ginny and I think that you're both the perfect match for each other. You're going out tonight."

"What?"

"Ginny will be here in an hour with Hermione and Pansy," he said, standing up. "They'll help you get ready for the date."

Forgetting that her toes were still wet, she quickly jumped up to her feet as well, "You wait just one minute, Blaise Zabini," she shouted, following him over to her office, where the fireplace was, "What do you mean one of your mates?"

"I mean, he was in Slytherin with me."

"Dean is willing to let me go on a blind date with a Slytherin?" she's always wanted to try out a Slytherin, but seeing as her cousin and her boyfriend, and all of their best mates were from Gryffindor, she was forbidden to date one. Pansy and Blaise always agreed with their other halves, telling her how dangerous it was for someone with not even one ounce of magical blood in them to date a Slytherin. Not only was it unheard of, but she was related to the most powerful muggle-born in the entire wizarding world. They feared for her life.

Blaise stepped right into the fireplace. "About that," he stared into her eyes. "They don't really know about that part yet. I'll have Ginny tell you more about the date when she gets here."

_Call me a sinner, call me a Saint_

_Tell me it's over, I'll still love you the same._

_Call me your favorite, call me the worst_

_Tell me it's over, I don't want you to hurt._

_It's all that I can say. So I'll be on my way._

Smirking as he quickly recognized the muggle song coming from his best mate's office, Blaise stepped out of the fireplace. Using the same spell he just used at Rose's flat, he silenced the same song he just heard from Rose's muggle radio. Once the music was silenced, pale blonde hair flew up while storming quicksilver eyes peered up at him. Draco Malfoy! He was no longer the same bully from Hogwarts. Once the war was won by Potter and the rest of the good side, Draco no longer had to hide behind a mask of hatred. He could grow up, and show the world that he wasn't as prejudiced as he led them to believe. But as he grew from a weak and scrawny little boy, into a muscular and strong willed man, people began to fear him even more. Hiding the dark mark beneath a long silver colored jacket, Draco put down the quill in his hands.

"Blaise," a friendly smiled formed onto his pale pink lips. "Is anything wrong?"

"You haven't been in a relationship since that slag left you for Corner," Blaise nodded his head.

Draco groaned. He already knew where this was headed. "I already told you," he shook his head, "I'm not going on a blind date."

"But-"

"No!"

"I already told her you would go."

"Well go back, and tell her I won't."

"She just broke up with her boyfriend, who was a complete wanker by the way. And Ginny agrees with me, you two are perfect for each other."

"You mean you have your girlfriend's approval for me to be set up with this girl?"

"Yes?"

Seeing his friend nod his head, Draco noted the tiny smirk set on his lips. "Then, bloody hell no!"

"Mate, just meet up with Rose tonight. Trust me; you'll thank me for this one. You don't understand what I'm sacrificing just by making this happen."

"And what is that?"

"I'll possibly lose my Auror position, I'll most likely become maimed, and once the Weasleys find out that Ginny was the one who actually thought of this set up, I'll lose my girlfriend," Blaise's face wrinkled, and he threw himself down into the chair across from Draco. "Well I guess there is one upside to that. I want us to be buried together in the Zabini family plot. The Weasleys won't argue with that seeing as how they'll disown her anyways."

Draco listened to his mate exaggerate, and rolled his eyes. He laughed, but Blaise didn't join in, there was a serious tone to his eyes, which caused Draco to gulp. "Who the hell is this chick?"

"I can't tell you," Blaise rolled his eyes, "Because then it won't be considered a blind date. The date is tonight at eight. I'll stop by at six to help you get ready for it."

Draco watched as Blaise stood up, and he sighed. He really didn't want to have to do this. It's been one year since Astoria cheated on him, then left him for Michael Corner. If anyone had any doubts that Ravenclaws had it in them to help a woman cheat on her fiancée, then they were all sodding idiots. It wasn't as if he loved Astoria, but she was safe. Her family was just as honored as his had been, and her blood was as pure as his. He personally didn't care about blood, but he was a Malfoy. And if there was anything about Malfoys, it was that they kept their bloodline pure. The Greengrass family was the only other pureblooded family around who didn't mess their line up by mixing in any half-bloods, or a muggle-born. Astoria was his safest choice as a bride, then she did the one thing that no self-respecting pureblood would ever do; she cheated on him. That one dishonor was enough to make the entire Greengrass bloodline disown her. Even her sister Daphne refused to have anything to do with her after that. Cheating was just absolutely forbidden amongst the purebloods.

"At least tell me something about her so I'm prepared tonight," Draco stated once Blaise stepped into the fireplace. "Does she know who I am?"

"She knows of you, but you've never met before, nor does she know who she's meeting tonight," Blaise shook his head then sighed. "All I told her is that you were in Slytherin with me."

"Well what house was she in?" Draco asked. "It's only fair that I know, seeing as how she knows," Blaise's silence caused him to growl. "It's not a bloody Hufflepuff is it? I'll kill you, and all of the Weasleys if I have to."

Blaise chuckled. "No mate, you don't have to worry about that. She wasn't exactly in any house. Although seeing as how well I know her, I have no doubt she would've been either in Gryffindor or in Slytherin, but most likely Slytherin."

"Wait – she wasn't in any house at Hogwarts?" Blaise shook his head, and Draco rubbed his forehead, "Is she even a witch?"

"Nope. I'll see you in a couple of hours."

_I finally put it all together,_

_But nothing really lasts forever._

_I had to make a choice that was not mine,_

_I had to say goodbye for the last time._

_I kept my whole life in a suitcase,_

_Never really stayed in one place._

_Maybe that's the way it should be,_

_You know I live my life like a gypsy._

_I've said it so many times_

_I would change my ways._

_No, never mind…_

_God knows, I've tried._

They were all surrounding her. Jaded emerald eyes lined with black eyeliner looked down at her with a nervous glint. Toffee colored eyes was staring with a nervous glint, while ocean blue eyes watched her with a smug pride to it. Pin straight raven colored hair rested against tanned curving thighs while sleek caramel colored curls fell against ivory broadened shoulders. Pin straight hair that always reminded her of cinnamon on fire was tied up into a ponytail while lightly tanned freckles scattered along the pale face. By looking at the three of them, you would never be able to tell they were once enemies or that they were now the best of friends. Pansy wore a thigh lengthened pink skirt with a flirty white halter top. Hermione wore loose fitting jeans that reached between her thighs and knees, with a baby V-necked long sleeve shirt. Ginny's height allowed the simplicity of her long blue jean pants, and simple yellow colored baby tee, to make her like as if she were modeling the everyday wear.

"Why won't you guys just tell me who it is?"

It's been four hours since they arrived at Rose's flat, and the twenty-two year old was still pleading with them to tell her who she was being set up with. "We already told you Rose," Hermione rolled her eyes at her only and favorite cousin. "We can't tell you anything about him."

"Aside from the fact that he used to be in Slytherin," Ginny quickly added.

Rose's eyes met Pansy's, and she tried to read into her mind. She and Pansy had a special connection. Although Ginny was always Hermione's best friend, and Pansy often tried to kill Hermione before; once Rose started coming around the wizarding world more often, she formed an instant bond with Pansy. The former Slytherin girl reminded her of herself in so many ways, that she was now feeling betrayed by her best friend. "Pans," she began to whine, "Just tell me who it is. All these years you warned me of how I need to stay away from the Slytherin blokes, and now all of a sudden you're allowing me to go on this blind date? Just tell me who it is."

"Nuh-uh Rose," Pansy smirked, "And don't try to guilt me into telling you either."

"Stop being so whiny," Hermione scolded her cousin. "Now hurry up and get ready. Blaise said you have to meet his friend at eight. It's already seven."

Folding her arms over her chest, Rose frowned. "I already told Blaise that I don't want to go."

"Trust me," Ginny told her, still looking smug. "You do. Harry is already planning on setting you up with Zacharias."

Rose groaned, and rubbed her forehead. "I said no more Hufflepuffs. And no more blind dates. I'm tired of being set up."

"It took a lot of begging on our parts for Seamus and Dean to even consider this date," Pansy said. "And it's not as if Luna and Lavender are having any more luck with Harry and Ron right now either."

"I had to threaten to hex them just to keep them from murdering Blaise," Ginny agreed with widened eyes. "You would've thought Voldemort returned by the way Harry reacted. We went through a lot of trouble to get you this date Rose. Just go out with him tonight."

"And if you don't like it, then we'll leave you alone for a month," Hermione promised. "I'm just sick of seeing you bounce from one guy to another, Rose. You're twenty-two now, you have to settle down."

A low growl escaped Rose's throat. Whenever she spoke, it was as if she spoke to empty ears. "Fine," she sighed. "I'm only doing this so we don't get into another argument about me settling down. It isn't fair that you can hide whatever black eye I give you with magic."

"Thank you," Hermione grinned, moving towards her cousin's closet. "Dean wasn't happy when I went home with that black eye the last time we got into an argument."

Standing in front of the mirror, she stared at herself. Ivory skin glistened from the peach smelling lotion she always used while darkened honey colored eyes stared back at her. She hated this part about the blind dates the most. The girls would always come over, and try to turn her into something she wasn't, and she felt as if she were fooling her date; trying to trick them into liking someone she was for only a couple of hours. Dark caramel curls thickened with strips of raven colored streaks remained damp from the shower she just took, and still smelt like her honeysuckle shampoo. Knowing how much Rose hated to flat iron her hair, Pansy used her wand to straighten only the bangs. Side bangs fell on each side of her face, reaching right below her eyes, while she used the muggle hair products to help tame her tightened curls. Although she was a Granger, she didn't have her cousin's unlikely curse of having unmanageable hair. Her curls were tamable and neat as they fell in tight ringlets to the midsection of her back.

Ginny used her wand as well to apply the makeup. Although Rose was a simple girl, makeup was always her favorite toy. While they were growing up, she would always play with her mum's makeup, and try to apply it to herself. Hermione was the more conservative one, and would always tell on her for wearing makeup, which would result in Rose straddling Hermione, and covering her with makeup. It was a fun, and normal filled childhood. Until Hermione left to go to Hogwarts, and Rose had to go to school on her own, and had no one else to practice applying makeup on with. Lining Rose's cat shaped eyes with black eyeliner; Ginny noted how the girls nails were now painted pink, and silver. Lining the black with silver, she applied a light blushing pink color to Rose's eyes, and then shadowed it with silver to give it that smoky look. Soon her lips were painted a rose pink color as well, and a spell was placed on it to ensure the makeup remained perfect for the rest of the night.

Hermione stepped away from her cousin, and took in her features. Whereas she was the simple one in the family, Rose always had to be the rebel. Instead of being satisfied with just one earring, she had a pink colored industrial in each cartridge, along with three pink rose diamonds in each earlobe. A shining pink diamond pierced her left nose nostril, while a pink rose dangled from her navel. Standing there in just her pink laced knickers, and a pink laced bra, Rose looked more exotic than Hermione ever could. It was what made them different, but what brought them closer together. Hermione accepted that her cousin was larger in the chest area and curvier than she was, and she accepted the fact that her cousin was a bit on the wild side and more extravagant than herself while Rose accepted the fact that her cousin was more conservative. Rose admired Hermione for hiding her body, and didn't mock her for being more slender or having bushier curls than her own. The two cousins were nothing alike, and although most of their arguments ended in blood being drawn, the two were closer than the Weasleys had relatives. They never pressured the other into acting more like the other.

"I have the perfect outfit in mind for you," Hermione ended up grinning, stalking towards her cousin's walk-in closet.

_Call me a sinner, call me a Saint_

_Tell me it's over, I'll still love you the same._

_Call me your favorite, call me the worst_

_Tell me it's over, I don't want you to hurt._

_It's all that I can say. So I'll be on my way._

_I'll always keep you inside._

_You healed my heart and my life…_

_And you know I try._

Standing in only his emerald silk boxers, Draco stood in front of his mirror. Blaise was fussing around in his closet, and it was starting to irk him. From the moment that Blaise floo'd into the manor, he's been fussing with Draco, and muttering things to himself. First he forced Draco into the shower, and stood there… watching him shower… scrutinizing his every movement… ensuring that he scrubbed his body well enough to _his_ liking. He even had the nerve to compliment Draco on using a sandalwood scented soap, claiming that this woman loved the scent of sandalwood. As if that wasn't weird enough, Blaise tried to attack him in the shower when he saw that Draco wasn't going to wash his own hair. After a few punches, and shampoo stinging eyes later, Draco finally gave in and began using the cinnamon scented shampoo. Now here he was… standing in front of his mirror, wearing nothing but boxers while Blaise raided his closet, and harassed his clothing.

Draco was proud of how much he filled out since Hogwarts, and to his pleasure, since Astoria left him. Proving to the world that he wasn't prejudiced against muggles, Draco went out and got a muggle membership to a muggle gym. Using his gym membership, he went at least once a day. Waking up at four every morning, he would go to the gym for two hours, then apparate home and shower. By the time he had to leave for work he was already feeling great. Then at eight every night, he would go jogging in muggle London. It was freeing to be in the muggle world. Nobody knew who he was there, and he could always just pass his dark mark off as a tattoo. He didn't have to worry about getting any fearful glances or have parents scurrying their kids away from him. In the muggle world, he could just be himself, and not be judged about it.

"Those boxers have to go," turning away from where he was now admiring the creases of his six pack, Draco looked at his mate with a bewildered look on his face. "She hates the color green."

"What?" Draco began to laugh hysterically now. "You mean to tell me that you're setting me up with someone who hates green? I am a Slytherin, Blaise. I take pride in my green and silver. This is never going to work out. What the bloody hell were you thinking?"

Tossing the clothes that he had picked out onto the bed, Blaise sighed. "It will work out Draco. She knows that you're a Slytherin, and she knows how much we Slytherins take pride in everything. Including our colors, but she also really hates green. I don't know why, she just does. So please just change your boxers."

"No," feeling a bit childish at his response, Draco folded his arms across his chest. "It isn't as if she's going to see my boxers anyway. I'm not planning on stripping for this woman."

The smirk that fell upon Blaise's face was frightening, causing Draco to take a step back. "Trust me," Blaise snorted. "Once you see her, you'll change your mind."

"I doubt it," Draco snorted back. "I'm only doing this so you'll leave me alone. I should be jogging right now. Not being forced onto some stupid blind date with some woman that I don't even know, and already hates my colors. Which by the way – how does this muggle know about Slytherin? Or all about me? I thought you said she wasn't a witch."

"She isn't," picking the clothes back up once more; Blaise shook his head and walked back to the closet, "She's cousins with a muggle-born though. And that's all I'm telling you. If you want to know more, you can ask her about it over dinner."

Sighing, Draco followed his friend into the closet, "Where am I taking her anyway?"

Not caring that he was turning Draco's closet into a hurricane, Blaise threw items of clothing all around the large room sized closet, tossing them onto the floor. "It's a muggle restaurant. Ginny's going to apparate her there, and I'll apparate you. You'll both arrive at eight on the dot then you'll walk in together. The reservation is under your name already."

"Planned this all out have you," Draco growled, accepting the clothes thrown into his arms.

_Call me a sinner, call me a Saint_

_Tell me it's over, I'll still love you the same._

_Call me your favorite, call me the worst_

_Tell me it's over, I don't want you to hurt._

_It's all that I can say. So I'll be on my way._

_So I'll be on my way._

_So I'll be on my way!_

**Disclaimer: Song- Call Me, Artist- Shindown**

**Please review. I know I have so many in-progress stories already posted up, but this one is already completely pau on my laptop. And it was super fun to write(: please review. I've never done an entire story based off of songs before, so this is new to me and I want to know what you guys think of it!**


	2. Take Your Sweet Time

Take Your Sweet Time

_It isn't a crime to want_

_A little space to breath._

_But you will be fine._

_The sun again will shine on you,_

_Whatever you do…_

Feeling that familiar clenching feeling in her gut every time this happened to her, Rose opened her eyes, and found herself standing in the middle of an alleyway. Clutching the long silver strap that hung over her right shoulder, her silver painted fingers began to nervously tap at the silver clutch purse resting against her thigh. Hermione often thought she was childish because of how she liked to paint her nails, but she loved it. Using two colors to paint every other toe, she would paint all her fingers with just one color, but make her thumb the second color. So this time, she made all her fingers silver while her thumb was painted pink. Another habit of hers, which she knew annoyed everyone to no end, was that she would make each piercing match whatever color she decided to make her thumb. Hence everything was pink on her tonight. The past three weeks, she had everything green because it was John's favorite color. The thought alone made her nauseated. That's the last time she'll ever try to prove Dean or Seamus wrong about anything.

"Stop being nervous," leading Rose out of the alleyway and onto the street, Ginny saw she was fidgeting with her purse. "You look hot, Rose. There's no way in hell, he'll screw up this date."

That was it… she looked hot. She didn't want to look hot on her first time meeting someone, because she wasn't always looking hot. There were days when she didn't want to brush her hair, or she preferred sweats and decided to not put on her makeup. Looking down at her outfit once more, she groaned. "I don't like these heels, Gin."

"Those were Pansy's ideas," Ginny smirked. "Pans knows how much this guy loves his women in five inched heels. Not to mention, you're only five foot four. He's six foot one. These heels are to help you out."

Scowling at the open toed silver heels on her feet, she reminded herself to punch Pansy in the throat once she got the chance. She may not be able to hex her or use a wand against her, but she sure as hell can use her fist. "And this dress is annoying."

"You use dresses all the time," Ginny rolled her eyes. "Will you stop whining Rose? Trust me, once you see him you'll forget about all of your annoyances, and you'll just be happy. And as long as you both act like yourselves, you'll both get the shag of your lives tonight."

"First of all," Rose growled through clenched teeth, "I _do_ wear dresses all the time, and granted they are often this short, but those dresses are comfortable and loose. This thing shouldn't even be considered a dress; this is more like a bloody towel pretending to be a dress. And second of all, I'm not shagging this guy tonight."

"You'll regret saying that once you see him, Rose," sighing, Ginny shook her head. "I know how much your pride is going to get in the way, and you won't shag him just to prove yourself right, but trust me… once you see him, you're going to regret it."

With a scowl still set on her face, Rose looked down at what she was forced to wear. The straps were extremely thin; barely there as it hugged around her neck. Shaped like a heart as it covered only a minimal amount of her chest, the ivory globes popped out, as if teasing everyone who looked its way. Because of the style of her dress, she wasn't allowed to wear a bra with it, but because of the size of her breasts, she tried her hardest not to bounce too much when she walked. "I look like some slag," the dress was a pale pink color, hugging very tightly against her body, stopping at the beginning of her legs. Grateful for the 'no-rising' spell that Pansy used on it, she didn't have to worry about tugging at the dress all night. "A slag that is on a dinner date with one of her customers, this is what you and your bloody boyfriend have turned me into."

"At least at the end of the night you'll be a slag who got thoroughly shagged," giggling at her own humor, Ginny saw the daggers coming from her friend's eyes, and quickly shut up. Ginny may have been feared with a wand in the wizarding world, but Rose was feared with her temper from everyone who knew the muggle girl. "At least promise me that you'll try to have some fun tonight Rose. Who knows, maybe you'll actually enjoy it."

"I'm being forced against my will to go on a date with some bloke I don't even know, who was once in your rival house at Hogwarts, Gin. I'm the cousin of Hermione Granger, and he's a Slytherin. I'll worry about having fun once I'm positive he won't try to kill me."

"Oh, stop being so dramatic," the cinnamon haired girl rolled her eyes. "I'm sure he won't try to kill you. He loves muggles. Blaise promised me that. Besides, you know Blaise won't allow you to go on a date with someone who wants to kill you. Blaise is very fond of you."

_Take your sweet, sweet time._

'_cause I will be here when you change your mind._

_Take your sweet, sweet time._

_I will be here for you baby,_

_Anytime._

Ginny was nervously glancing towards the alleyway, while Rose continued to fidget with her purse. She could see the annoyance mixed in with worry on Ginny's face. The fear that Blaise's friend had stood them up was clearly evident in her eyes. Rose was just about to make a comment about being five minutes late meaning that he wasn't going to show at all, when she saw the relieved grin take over her friend's face. Turning to the alleyway, her eyes widened. What was that about her regretting the no shagging him tonight thing? Damn Ginny! Her blind date was dressed in long black slacks, and a black dinner jacket over an egg white oxford shirt, but Rose's eyes were more impressed by the tie around his neck. While his dinner jacket was unbuttoned completely, and the top four buttons were undone, she was impressed with the way the solid silver tie was hanging loosely around his neck. She felt herself biting her lip at the way his pale blonde hair looked as if he had been running his fingers through it all night. His quicksilver eyes landed on her, and she saw them darken.

Draco wanted to choke Blaise. They were running late because Draco argued about everything Blaise wanted him to wear, and in the end, Blaise had to petrify him just to get him dressed. The tie was loosened, and the buttons were opened once the spell was released, and they landed in the alleyway. This was all Blaise's fault. If he only told him that the woman they were setting him up with looked like this, then he would have been ready an hour ago. His eyes raked her body, and he mentally slapped himself – if only he changed his boxers when Blaise told him to. He would have to escape to the loo sometime within the night, and magically change the color from green to something else. Taking her in once more, Draco grinned. She seemed to love silver as much as he did. He would change his boxers from green to silver.

"You made it," Ginny grinned, trying to cover up the nervousness in her voice.

"Draco couldn't decide what to wear," Blaise grinned back, already knowing what that gleam in his friend's eyes meant. Draco approved of this set up. "You look beautiful tonight Rose."

Feeling herself blush, Rose looked away from Draco, and accepted Blaise's hug. "Thanks Blaise," she smiled, kissing him back on his cheek. "I thought Pans was going to hex me when I argued with her about the heels."

Chuckling as he looked down at the heels, Blaise pulled away from her. "That's Pansy for you," giving his girlfriend of four years, a quick and passionate kiss, he held out his hand towards Draco. "Rose this is Draco Malfoy. Draco, mate, this is Rose Granger."

"Granger!" Draco meant to be all suave, and grab her hand to kiss it in a seductive way, but then he heard her surname. Granger? Blaise set him up on a blind date with a Granger? He continued to stare at the woman who looked as shocked as him. "Granger?" he choked out again. A bloody Granger? At least now it made sense when Blaise told him that he was almost killed after setting this night up.

"Malfoy?" Rose's normally brave voice came out in a squeak. "You guys didn't tell me it was Malfoy!" turning her eyes onto Ginny who now looked guilty, and Blaise who looked confused, she instantly took a step away from the man she was just admiring. He wasn't just any Slytherin. And she didn't care that he was once a Death Eater, it was the fact that he was a Malfoy. He hated muggles more than any other pureblooded person there was out there. He called her cousin all sorts of nasty names, and used to pick on her in school. He stood there, watching as his aunt tortured her cousin right before the war, and he tried to hex her while they were in school. What the hell was Hermione thinking when she approved of this set up?

"Granger?" Draco repeated, "As in Hermione Granger?"

"She's my cousin," the squeak was gone in a second, and Rose's brave voice returned to her instantly. "I want to go home, Gin."

"Me too, Blaise," Draco said, not wanting to be the one who got left standing alone outside the restaurant. "Take me back to the manor."

"Oh grow up you two," Ginny rolled her eyes, linking her arm in with Blaise's arm. She could feel him chuckling beside her. "Rose, Hermione forgave him for treating her the way he did, and as I already told you… Blaise wouldn't have approved of this date if he thought Draco was going to try to kill you. He's grown up a lot since the war, and he has an office in muggle London. He works with muggles now, and he hasn't hexed anyone in a year."

"And Draco, mate," Blaise continued this scolding session, by turning to his friend. "Rose has nothing to do with turning you into a ferret in our fourth year, nor was it her who punched you in our third – although technically to be fair, it was her who taught Hermione how to throw a punch like that – and it isn't as if you and Hermione aren't on decent terms now. And occasionally, you help them out on Auror runs."

"You're both single," Ginny continued on, "And you're both here already. So why not just go inside, and sit down, and have dinner."

_I'm feeling you pull away_

'_cause letting go isn't easy for me._

_But you'll never fly_

_With someone else's wings._

_I know wherever you go…_

It took about five minutes of pleading and chastising, but it worked. Ginny and Blaise were now gone, and they were left standing there. Sighing, Draco held out his arm for her. Surprised by such a gentleman's gesture, Rose smiled politely and accepted it. With her arm linked into his, she allowed him to lead her into the restaurant. She allowed Draco to give his name to the waiter, and ignored the way the waiter's dull blue eyes so blatantly stared at her. She could feel Draco tense against her as he noticed it as well. He must not be so used to having another male stare at his date. Following the waiter over to the table, Rose allowed Draco to hold out her chair for her, and she even giggled when he walked into the table, trying to walk across to his own chair. The table cloth was a cream color while a lit candle sat between them. Immediately pouring out two glasses of white wine, the waiter left them their menus then walked away.

"I'm sorry."

Lifting her eyes away from the menu, Rose looked up at Draco. "For what?"

"For behaving rudely outside of the restaurant," he admitted. Refusing to allow himself to seem weak, Dracomkept his gaze matched with hers. He saw the confusion in her eyes, so he continued. "I may have overreacted when I heard you were a Granger. It's just that I wasn't expecting that. Nor did I realize that Granger had any cousins. I always thought she was the only child from her family," he saw that she was making no motion to interrupt him, so he continued again. "And although I do work occasionally with Granger, Potter or even Weasley when they come to me for help with a mission, I'm still used to being an enemy to them. They may come to me for help, and we may invite each other to all the dinner parties, but it's still hard to think of the other as something other than an enemy. We stay decent because of Blaise, and Pansy, but to them I'm still just some Death Eater. And to me, they're still the annoying golden trio."

Rose smiled now. She watched his facial expressions, and he was waiting for her to say something. She could see that he was expecting an apology as well, but she was too stubborn – just another thing that often annoyed her cousin. "Alright," she said, looking back down at the menu in her hands. "Have you ever eaten here before?"

He could have choked. If he had anything in his mouth, he would have. He wanted to strangle her. Being a Malfoy, he was taught to never apologize. And he never did. This was only the third apology that he's ever spoken in all of his twenty-two years of living, and she says _alright_? Not even an apology back, or an; _it's okay; I accept your apology, thank you for manning up_? She simply just said, _alright_, then asked if he ever ate there before? "Yes," he nodded his head, deciding to not let her see how much her reaction to his apology pissed him the hell off. "Are you a vegetarian?" he asked her, praying she shook her head.

"Oh god no," she shook her head, the disgust evident in her voice. "I mean, I don't mind the occasional veggie meal, but I need to have meat."

Shocked at himself for chuckling to her response, Draco reached over the table, and pointed at an item on her menu, "The red wine fillet with the jacket potato, and runner beans is quite excellent," he pointed out to her. **(fillet- filet mignon, jacket potato- baked potato, runner beans- string beans)**

Looking over the menu, Rose nodded her head. "Alright, I'll trust your judgment. Is that what you're getting as well?"

"I was thinking of getting the rump steak covered in spring onions and white sauce with the jacket potato, and runner beans."**(rump steak- sirloin steak, spring onions- green onions, white sauce- gravy)**

Nodding her head, Rose closed up her menu, and put it back down on the table. "That sounds good as well, but I'll get the red wine fillet as you suggested."

"Do you want to stick to drinking the white wine?" Draco asked her, "Or would you like something else?"

"The white wine is fine," she insisted.

They sat there in silence until the waiter came. Allowing Draco to order her food for her, Rose felt that familiar feeling return to her. She was already bored with him, but it was odd. He was the first person she's dated who pulled out her chair for her, or suggested something then ordered something different. No one else has ever ordered for her before either, or asked her opinion about what she wanted to drink. Even all the other wizards that she had been set up on with had ordered their food first then looked over at her. Even that one Hufflepuff she went on that one date with sat down before she even reached the table. This was different. She liked it, but it bored her. This seemed all too newly familiar to her. Like this was a routine she would be stuck in, that she already wanted out of. Fancy restaurants like this annoyed her, and it seemed like Draco was so at home here. She was bored.

"So…" the silence was comfortable. They didn't have to talk or fill the silence, because it was a comfortable silence. It was the fact that it was so comfortable, that made it awkward. "How are you and Granger cousins?"

"Our dads are brothers," she answered. Playing with the hem of her dress beneath the table, Rose was clamping her legs tightly together. The sight of Draco's tussled hair, and messy tie was making her knickers wet. "I'm her only cousin actually, Mione's mum is an only child, and our dads are the only two siblings in the Granger family."

"Do you have any other cousins from your mum's side?"

"Nope," she smiled kindly. "My mum is an only child to. Growing up, 'Mione and I were always really close. Then when she got her letter at eleven, we sort of drifted apart."

"Oh," taking a sip from his wine, Draco didn't want it to fall silent again. "Did she tell you who she was?"

Rose nodded her head, and took a sip of her wine as well. These were all the same questions that the other wizards all asked her. "Yeah," she explained. "I knew all about who she was. I was with her when she got her letter actually. We just sort of fell apart because she began to hang out with Harry and Ron, and she was scared for me. Even though she was only a first year, she already knew that her muggle family would be in danger. We talked only once in a while. It wasn't until after the war, that she didn't bother hiding me anymore. I met Harry and Ron in your guys' second year, but it wasn't until a week after the war that I met everyone else."

"Oh," Draco took another sip. Her explanation was well recited, and he could tell she was tired of having to repeat it so many times. "So what do you do, Rose?" it was odd calling her by her first name when he knew she was a Granger. But her name matched her. Just like any other rose, she was beautiful in her own way.

She chuckled. This was also a part of her dating routine. It was all boring to her. "I'm a therapist," she told him. "I work with both children and adults."

"At only twenty-two?" Draco was amazed. "I thought that in the muggle world, it took about seven years of schooling to go through that?"

"It does," and this is the part when her dates usually start to look at her funny. "I graduated from my muggle school at only fifteen," she told him. "I'm smarter than most muggles my age. I just got my therapy license about four months ago, but until then I was studying with other therapists, and I had permission to sit in on a couple of sessions."

"Wow," Draco saw her watching him carefully, as if analyzing his reaction to her statement. He chuckled, and rubbed his jaw. "Well I guess that was expected then, eh? Being a Granger yourself, it's only obvious that while your cousin is the brightest-witch-of-our-age, you would be the brightest-muggle-of-our-age. I can imagine those family gatherings."

She heard the joking in his voice, but could also sense he was being serious. He wasn't mocking her, nor was he mocking her cousin. "I heard you're pretty smart yourself," this was new to her. Once she mentioned graduating from school at only fifteen years old, all her other dates – wizards, and muggles alike – would start to stare at her as if she were nothing more than a bookworm. The conversations usually ended at this point. "I remember in the few letters that 'Mione and I would send to each other, she would always complain about how you were right on her arse with your scores. Weren't you only behind her by two points in each class?"

"It was three," Draco was man enough to admit that Hermione always beat him by three points. He was shocked enough that Hermione would write about something like that though. Were his scores really important enough in her mind? He expected her to complain about him hexing her or bullying her, and about him being a Death Eater, but she wrote about him being as smart as she was? "She was always above me by three points."

She knew that it was three points, because Hermione spoke about it every chance she had, but Rose wanted to see what he would say. She was curious if he would have accepted her mistake, and make himself seem brighter by that one point. Smiling as he corrected her, she tightened her legs even more. She was sure that her chair was soaked by now. "Here comes our food," glad to have a reason to get off the topic of grades, and scores, she watched as their waiter placed their plates on the table.

_Take your sweet, sweet time._

_I will be here when you change your mind._

_Take your sweet, sweet time._

_I will be here for you baby,_

_Anytime._

"So I heard you mention Pansy to Blaise?" Draco asked a couple of minutes into their meals.

Covering her mouth her hand, Rose nodded her head. "Yeah, she was one of the ones in on this set-up. She came over with my cousin and Ginny, and mauled me as I got ready. These heels were originally only two inches high."

Sneaking a quick glance underneath the table, Draco began to laugh. Looking back up, he saw the amusement in his date's eyes. "Yeah, that sounds like Pans to me. If you want, I could alter them back to its normal size once we leave."

"Oh thank you," taking another bite of her fillet, Rose covered her mouth once more. She didn't understand why most girls waited until they had no food in their mouth to speak. Not only was it pointless, but it would mean they didn't eat anything on their dates. It was just stupid. "I don't usually dress like this," she told him. "But all of my cousin's friends have this thing about having to set me up on dates every chance they get. By this point, I'm pretty sure I dated half of the male population from Hogwarts."

"And you usually go along with it?" Draco found himself imitating her hand motion, which caused him to grin behind his own hand. It wasn't something he was doing just because she was doing it. He always did this. It was rude to speak with your mouth full because the other person could see the food in your mouth. This way, he could speak and not show the other person his chewed up food. It seemed like this was normal for her as well.

"I don't have a choice," she sighed, taking a sip from her wine. "I'm always being attacked by one of them. It's an endless cycle… once I tell them I hated the night before; I'm being pushed out on another date that same night."

Draco chuckled, "Blaise and Pansy have been trying to get me to go out ever since my fiancée left me last year," he admitted. "That was the last time I used a hex. I hexed Corner, and Astoria."

"Oh right," laughing at this point, and using both of her hands to prevent the food from flying out of her mouth, Rose quickly swallowed it. "Pans told me about that. She came over to my flat that night, mixed between tears and laughter. You turned Astoria's hair pink, and caused boils to sport all over Corner's body right?"

Draco was laughing as hard as her now. Nodding his head, he spit his food into the napkin next to him. "Wait – Pansy told you about that?"

"Yeah. We were supposed to go out that night because Seamus was out on a mission with some of the other Aurors, and I had another miserable date. She was three hours late by the time she floo'd over, and she was in hysterics. At first I thought something was wrong with Seamus or that something had happened to her. It took her a while before she could finally tell me what happened."

"Astoria owled her," Draco was still laughing. It was slowing down, but there was still laughter in his voice. "She thought that Pansy would be able to calm me down. Pansy and Blaise both showed up at the same time, and it took Blaise to stop me from doing anything stupid to Corner."

"That was the night that Pans ended up slapping Astoria, right?" Rose asked, stabbing at one of the runner beans with her fork.

"Yeah," Draco nodded his head, taking a sip from his wine, hoping that it would calm him down a bit. "The stupid bint thought that Pansy would back her up, and started shouting at me for turning her hair pink. Pansy is like my sister though. We grew up together, and have been through too much for her to just suddenly turn against me. Pansy got sick of all of it, and slapped her right across her face. Blaise and I started laughing at that point. Corner had to carry Astoria out of my manor, because she was crying too much."

Playing with her fork, Rose was smiling now. It felt as if she were talking to an old friend at this point, and that they were catching up on lost time. "I remember Pans telling me about that," she nodded her head, taking a bite of her fillet. "Then Blaise came over the next day, and I heard it all again."

"Pans?" it only now dawned on Draco, the name that Rose had been calling one of his best friends. "Pansy only allows certain people to call her that. I knew that she got close to most of the Gryffindors because of Finnigan, but I didn't know she was that close."

Smirking a smirk that would have made even Lucius Malfoy proud, Rose shook her head. "She's not. Only I call her Pans. Once in a while Ginny or Hermione will, but other than those two… well and Seamus… only I call her Pans. She absolutely hates Lavender with a passion, and Luna isn't with us as often as the others are. But Pans and I came kinda close over the years."

"And yet, I've never heard of you," Draco reminded himself to approach Pansy about all of this. All these years, she was close friends with the muggle cousin of Hermione Granger, and not once had he ever heard of her.

"Everyone in the wizarding world knows of me," Rose shrugged her shoulders. "I'm always around. And I've been to a couple of events with Pans when Seamus was out on a mission. And I've been to the Ministry a couple of times."

"But Blaise, and Pansy never mentioned you to me," thinking hard, he tried to remember if he saw her around before. This wasn't a face that you would forget, but he tried to see if maybe he spotted her around the wizarding world.

Rose shrugged her shoulders, "They talk about you all the time. Actually, all I ever hear is your name. I guess they just didn't think I was important enough to mention."

"Are you that friend that Pansy is always with?" Draco asked suddenly. "She would be late to our weekly lunches sometimes, or when I would owl her, she would tell me she was with one of her friends," then it struck him, and he groaned. "Rose! She did talk about you. She just never mentioned that you were Granger's cousin. She would always just say her friend, Rose."

Chuckling, Rose took a sip of her wine. She watched as Draco rubbed his forehead with his hand. Squeezing the hell out of her legs, she cursed herself for insisting that she wasn't going to sleep with her blind date. "That's me."

Draco watched her as she watched him. The conversation turned to why she hated the color green. It came up randomly when she put one of the runner beans up to her lips. She explained how it all happened when they were eight. It was before Hermione found out she was a witch, and they were playing inside of Rose's room one day. Rose's favorite color is pink, and Hermione's is green – Draco snorted at that statement – and while they were playing, they got into an argument. Hermione was being the bossy know-it-all that she always is, and said that the hot pink walls of Rose's room didn't match the pale pink ceiling. Rose stated that pink is a better color than green, and the next thing she knew, everything was green. The walls, the ceiling, the curtains, the bed, the floor and the carpet, all of her toys, her dressers, closet, telly, toy chest, mirror, and all of her clothing… just everything. Everything was suddenly green. Of course no one knew that Hermione was a witch at that time, and the two cousins got grounded for painting everything green, but ever since then, Rose has always hated the color green.

"Can I have the bill?" Draco asked after they finished off their desserts. He was excited to have been on a date with someone who didn't care how much she ate. Eating everything she had for dinner, along with all of her dessert, Rose softly burped into her hands, excused herself and patted her stomach. It was so rare to find real females anymore.

Allowing Draco to lead her outside of the restaurant once everything had been paid for, Rose smiled. "Thank you for dinner Draco."

_I will never stand in your way._

_Wherever your heart may lead you,_

_I will love you the same._

_And I will be your comfort every day._

_Do you hear the words I say?_

"Blaise told me that you just broke up with your boyfriend," Draco said suddenly. Once again filling the silence with something he just blurted out.

Chuckling, Rose nodded her head. True to his word, Draco altered her heels back to its original form once they left the restaurant, and when he felt her shiver, he placed his jacket on her. Holding onto his arm, she led him back to her apartment. It was a fifteen minute walk, and after that meal, they both decided to just walk back instead of apparating. "Today as a matter of a fact."

"Oh," cocking an eyebrow down at her, Draco tried to see if she was going to start crying or anything. "Really?"

"Mhmm."

"And you… you're okay?"

"Yep," sensing his confusion, she chuckled again. "John was a complete wanker. Not only was his favorite color green, but he was a complete idiot. He was a horrible kisser, and he was rude. Not to mention that he was a muggle, so I had to sneak around him whenever I would owl 'Mione or one of the others. And we always had to be careful of what we said around him."

Scrunching up his nose, Draco understood why she wasn't miserable that she just broke up with her boyfriend earlier that day. "How long were you with him?"

"Two months and one day. Apparently Seamus and Dean having been keeping a calendar of all my boyfriends, and blind dates – my relationships don't exceed past two months, and my blind dates never go past just a first date. They bet me that I couldn't keep a boyfriend for two months."

"Ahh," Draco grinned now. He liked her style. "So you broke up with him on the second day after two months, to prove them wrong."

Grinning, she nodded her head, "Exactly."

"So how many blind dates have you been on exactly?" he asked, curious as to how many times she's gone through this. In the beginning of the date, he could tell that her responses had been routine, then later on in the date, she told him how she practically dated half of the males from Hogwarts. It wasn't until the date progressed that she answered him with surprise. He was hoping that he had been one of the better dates that gets to see a second night.

Rose counted in her mind. She didn't know an exact number, and sighed. "I don't know," she admitted. "They started pushing me on dates only a year ago. But it's like every night, I have a new one. They think I should be settled down already."

"And you don't want to be?"

Hearing the sadness in his voice, Rose quickly shook her head. "It isn't that. I mean, I understand how in the wizarding world it's normal to be married or engaged by twenty-one and twenty-two. But I was raised in the muggle world. I don't want to have to worry about finding 'the one' until I'm at least twenty five. I mean I just got my dream career; I don't want to have to worry about a family just yet. If I find the right guy, then sure… okay. But I don't want to push it. I just want to be young still."

Draco absorbed her answer. It made reasonable sense to him. She was right. She wasn't raised as a witch, the same way that her friends were. Hermione and Dean may have both been muggle-borns, but they've been living in the wizarding world since they were only eleven years old. Of course they saw things differently from their muggle relatives. "Why don't you just explain that to them?" he asked.

"I do," Rose shrugged her shoulders. "All the bloody time. They don't listen to me though. They just send me off on another blind date."

They continued talking a little while longer: Rose explaining how horrible most of her dates had been, and Draco explaining how he tried to date only twice after Astoria cheated on him, but how terrible they were. They continued talking about their jobs and about their families for a little while longer. Then they reached the apartment complex. They were both nervous as they took the elevator up to the eleventh floor. Draco was nervous because his boxers were still green, and Rose was nervous because she was sure he was expecting something from her. She wasn't some sort of slag who would shag a guy after the first date. There were a couple of times where she did, and there were even a couple of times when she would shag a complete stranger that she just met. Then there were those times when she would slam the door in her date's face, and go right to sleep after a date. There were more of those times than her slag moments. It wasn't that she didn't want to shag Draco, because she did. But she had to go and tell Ginny she wouldn't, and of course she just had to prove herself right.

"I had fun tonight," she told Draco once they were outside of her flat's door.

Draco knew what that meant. Disappointed, he took a step back. "Me too, you're not that bad for a Granger."

Rose laughed. She was both excited and disappointed when he stepped away from her. She was excited because she didn't lie to Ginny. She was disappointed because for the first time, she wouldn't have minded being proven wrong for once. "You're not so bad yourself, Malfoy. You were really sweet tonight. Thank you for walking me home."

"Thank you for giving me a chance to prove myself to you," Draco smiled. Normally, this is the point where he pins her against her door, and tries to open it with her legs wrapped around his waist. This one was different though. She wasn't flirting with him. She wasn't making any moves on him. She wasn't shivering at his soft touches.

If it wasn't for the fact that she knew Draco was the male version of herself, Rose would have pinned him against her door, refusing to let him leave her alone tonight. She took pride in being the one to forget a guy's name the next morning. Something in her couldn't bear the thought of being the forgotten one. Shrugging out of Draco's jacket, she fought a battle with herself. So many mixed emotions were taking over, that she was just so confused. "Here's your jacket back. Thanks for letting me use it."

Nodding his head, as he threw it over his shoulders, Draco realized what her angle was now. Now he understood why Blaise and Ginny felt they were perfect for each other. Now he understood why she brushed against him beneath the table when crossing her legs together, and why she watched his every movement. She was him. Rose Granger was the female Draco Malfoy. "Would you like to do this again sometime?" he asked her. "Go on a second date?"

Smiling widely, Rose nodded her head. "I would love that," opening her door, she stood on her toes and leaned in towards him. Softly kissing his cheek, she pulled away. "I'll owl you."

Draco stood there. The door was already shut, and he shook his head. He knew what that meant. She used his exact lines. He knew that game already. She wasn't going to owl him. There was no second date. Chuckling to himself, Draco pulled at his hair in a frustrated way. He was attracted to a Granger, and she just blew him off. He was definitely going to kill Blaise.

_Take your sweet, sweet time._

_I will be here when you change your mind._

_Take your sweet, sweet time._

_I will be here for you baby._

_Take your sweet, sweet time._

_I will be here when you change your mind._

_Take your sweet, sweet time._

_I will be here for you baby,_

_Anytime._

_I will be here for you._

_I will be here._

_I will be here._

_I will be here for you!_

**Song: Take Your Sweet Time. Artist: Jesse McCartney.**

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	3. Teenage Prayer

Teenage Prayer

Sitting behind the cream colored oak wood desk in her office, Rose rubbed her forehead and sighed. It's been a week since her date with Draco, and she hadn't heard from him yet. When she told him that she would owl him, she had every intention to see it through, but then Hermione went through a pregnancy scare, and Blaise proposed to Ginny. She half hoped that maybe he would owl her instead, but it never came. Disappointed in the fact that maybe all he wanted from her was a quick shag, she was proud of herself for not giving into him. She wasn't ready to become the broken hearted; forgotten girl the next morning. Not yet at least.

_My friends all know it,_

_How I adore him._

_I whisper to angels,_

_What I'd do for him._

_He is the answer to a teenage prayer._

Hearing her receptionist's voice call her through the door, Rose shouted for her to enter. "Miss Parkinson is here to see you Miss Granger."

"Let her in, Jenna," quickly glancing at the clock on the wall, Rose asked, "Hey Jenna, what time is Miss Jameson coming in today?"

"At three o'clock."

Nodding her head, she smiled. "Thanks."

Leaning back against her black leathered chair, she watched as her best friend walked into her office. Like always, Pansy was dressed as if she were about to walk on a runway; long tanned legs stuck out from an extremely short black colored skirt that seemed to flare around her. If it weren't for the spells that Pansy placed on those skirts, it would be flying up right now. A tiny blue jean jacket that reached only right below her breasts was worn over a white colored baby tee. With her hair tied up into a ponytail, and her feet comfortably sitting in plain black colored ballerina flats, Pansy threw herself into the soft black chair in front of the desk.

"Did you talk to him yet?"

"Did I talk to whom yet?"

Rolling her eyes when she saw Rose look through the scattered papers on her desk, Pansy snorted, "Don't play ignorant Rose. You know who I'm talking about. Did you talk to him yet?"

"No," Rose sighed. "I haven't had a chance to owl him yet. 'Mione had that pregnancy scare thing the day after our date and now the engagement. Not to mention, I've been getting called in everyday with some sort of emergency. You wouldn't believe how many people try to kill themselves over the silliest of things. Killing yourself over heartbreak or the death of a loved one, I can understand. But when you want to off yourself just because your coffee maker broke down, you should be treated in a mental hospital."

"Your clients actually call you because of that?"

"You wouldn't believe what I get emergency calls for," Rose sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "It's unbelievable, the things that people do. Just last night, I was called in at one in the morning because one of my clients got admitted to the hospital."

"What happened?"

"They tried to hang their cat; their bloody cat. One of the neighbors heard the hissing, and called the police thinking that something happened to their neighbor. When the door got broken into, they saw my client tying the belt around the cat's neck. And you don't even want to know what he did to his fish."

Shuddering as images of how Voldemort used to treat muggles flooded through her mind, Pansy began to flick her nails. "Well you're free now, aren't you?"

"I have another appointment in half an hour," she shook her head. "See what I mean, Pans. It's crazy. I don't have the time to owl him. Besides-"

Pansy heard her tone. There was an aggravated sigh at the end of her _besides_, and she purposely just cut herself off. Pansy raised an eyebrow, and leaned in. "Yes, besides what?"

"If he really wanted a second date, he could have just owled me himself."

Pansy smirked. "I knew it. You like Draco, don't you?"

"It was only one date," Rose scowled. "Don't get your hopes up, Pans. It was only one date with him. And so what if he held out my chair for me, and ordered my food for me. It doesn't matter that he kept the conversations going, and talked about something interesting for once. And there are tons of guys out there who give you their jacket when you get cold, and who walk you to your door. None of that matters because it was boring."

"It was boring?" Pansy smirked. "Really Rose? I remember when Hermione was freaking out because she thought she was pregnant; you were telling all of us about your date instead. And how when Ginny floo'd over the next day talking about how Blaise proposed to her, you asked if Draco was going to be the best man. For somebody who was bored on that one date, you sure do talk about him a lot."

"Oh shut up," scratching at the hair that fell loosely around her head, Rose sighed again. "That's the thing. It really was a boring date. But it was different, a boring different, but an exciting different at the same time. Draco's different from the other dates you all set me up on. And for the first time, I was really looking forward to a second date."

"But?"

"But he didn't owl me," Rose shrugged her shoulders, "It's like he was expecting me to shag him, and when I didn't, he just decided he didn't want to see me anymore."

Pansy thought about it. That did sound like Draco. "And why didn't you shag him?" she asked her best friend. "I know you Rose. You're always down to shag a hot bloke. So what stopped you?"

"Ginny," she frowned then folded her arms in her lap. "And I'm glad she did. I'm glad that I told her I wasn't going to shag whoever you guys were setting me up with. If I did shag him then-"

Pansy rolled her eyes again. "Then what Rose?" she asked, reaching over to grab a pen from the desk. Using the pen to clean out her nails, she cocked an eyebrow. "If you did shag him then for once you would've been the one to wake up in an empty bed. For once you would be the one who knows what it's like to not receive an owl or a call? News flash sweetie, that is what's happening to you right now. Granted you didn't shag him, but you still woke up in an empty bed. You're still waiting around for an owl to fly into your window. And at the same time, so is he. Draco's not used to having to wait either, you know. He's not used to being shut down either. This is new for both of you. So while you're waiting for an owl to arrive, so is he."

_He won't go steady,_

_The crowd has told me._

_But I keep waiting_

_To have him hold me._

_Why won't you listen_

_To a teenage prayer?_

"Sometimes, I just want to end all of it," the tiny squeaking voice of the thirty year old woman took over the office. Rose sat on the soft pink colored couch chair, with one leg crossed over the other, as she took her notes. Her eyes stayed locked on the tanned woman sitting on the long egg white leathered couch across from her. Golden locks were tied back into a ponytail while red chipped nails picked at the hem of an orange blouse. Dark blue eyes stared down at the silver carpet. "I see all of my friends holding hands with their husbands, and then I see my nieces and nephews, and I just want to end it all."

Rose nodded her head as she wrote down what her client was saying. She didn't understand any of it. What was so precious about being married that you would want to end your life because you weren't? "You are only thirty years old Miss Jameson," she told her, "You have many more years to live for. You're a promising chef, and you own your restaurant. You travel around the world every year, and you own your own villa in France. You're still young. You don't need a husband to define anything for you."

"But that's just it," the woman was crying now. "I'm thirty. I own my own restaurant where I see men getting down on one knee, and proposing to women every night. I have to stand there and clap while they admit their love for one another, and I'm going home to an empty flat every night. I travel on my own every year, while my friends are at home, spending time with their husbands. I own a villa in France, where I have to watch all the young couples surrounding me with their love. And I'm sick of all of it. I want that, Doctor Granger. I deserve that."

Is that what this was all about? Seeing other people around yourself falling in love, and knowing that you don't have it? Listening as her client cried more about being alone, and being the crazy cat lady in her flat, Rose thought about her date with Draco. In the beginning he bored her. In the middle he bored her. The ending bored her as well. It started out predictable, but by the end of the night, he had her on her toes. Somewhere while she was on her toes though, she was bored with even that. She was tired of doing the whole dinner then walking home scenery. She was bored with knowing what to expect. His face was readable to her, because she saw his emotions on every other male's face before him. He wanted her to invite him back into her apartment, where they would shag. The nights that she did invite men back into her apartment always seemed scripted as well. She would invite them in then they would sit and talk. They would shag. She would kick them out. She would never call them or owl them again. Having heard the stories of the Slytherin sex god, she realized she had been waiting for him to take the initiative for once. But seeing him waiting for her to invite him in, bored her. At the end of the night, Draco Malfoy was just as boring as any Hufflepuff she's been set up with.

It annoyed the hell out of her. She's heard of him making the first move and seducing women out of their knickers in a heartbeat. Back at Hogwarts, Draco was the type of guy who would kick you out after a quick shag. He would make toes curl with just one simple glance your way. But with her, he didn't do anything; he just stood there… waiting to be invited in by her. Remembering that she was still in one of her sessions, Rose held back her growl. So much for being a damned sex god – Draco couldn't even get that part right; the bloody prat. Feeling an anger that she didn't fully understand, Rose nodded her head at whatever it was Miss Jameson was telling her right now. She had been set up on a blind date with the only male in the universe who equaled up to her. And he was boring.

_I await by the window at seven._

_And chill when my thrill passes by._

_His kiss could send me to heaven._

_Into his arms, I would fly._

"I want you to take the pill every morning at nine o'clock," Rose said, handing the prescription to Miss Jameson. "Then come back in on Tuesday, and let me know how you feel. If for any reason though, you feel as if it's keeping you up all night or making you worse in any way, I want you to stop taking it, and call me immediately."

Nodding her head as she walked out of the office, Miss Jameson smiled. "Thanks, Doctor Granger. I hope these will help me out even a little. Do you really think this will stop me from wanting to kill all of my customers?"

"Yes," following her client out into the waiting room, Rose saw Hermione sitting on one of the waiting chairs. "Jenna," she turned to her receptionist. "Could you pencil Miss Jameson in for Tuesday at ten in the morning? And could you write out a note for the restaurant. Due to medical reasons, she's not allowed back into the restaurant or near any foods or people until I give the okay."

"Got it," pulling out the note pad with Rose's pre-signed professional papers, Jenna smiled up at Miss Jameson. "The pills are great Miss Jameson. Doctor Granger prescribed them to my cousin who was also very depressed, and now he doesn't try to kill himself or anyone else anymore. He's content with his life now."

"I hope they work for me then, Jenna-"

Rose was no longer listening to what her client and receptionist were saying. "'Mione," she called to her cousin, who quickly jumped up. "I'll see you now," then turning back to her client, she smiled in a professional way. "I'll see you on Tuesday, Miss Jameson. And like I said, call me if anything goes wrong or if you feel like those pills aren't working."

Hermione took in her cousin's ragged look. The grey pencil skirt reached her knees, while she had her suits jacket thrown onto her desk. The normally neatened curls were now tied back into a sloppy bun, and her white oxford shirt was wrinkled looking. It looked as if she had been shagged for hours straight then came straight into work. But Hermione knew better. She hadn't been shagged, she was annoyed. Rose was odd. When she was annoyed, she looked as if she were depressed. And when she was depressed, she was the happiest looking person in the world.

"Let's go out for drinks tonight," Hermione said cheerfully. "To celebrate my not being pregnant and Ginny's engagement."

"I don't get it," Rose shook her head. "I thought you wanted to be pregnant. Being twenty-two and all – isn't it about time you got pregnant?"

"I thought that to," Hermione shrugged her shoulders. "Then when I thought I was pregnant, I changed my mind. I'm not ready to be a mum yet. I happen to like being able to go out on missions with the rest of the Aurors when they need my help. I'm not ready to be just a healer yet. I like being out on the field. I can't do that when I'm pregnant. And I know Dean won't allow it once we have a child nor would Harry them."

If she were younger, Rose would have called her cousin a hypocrite, but she knew how much Hermione believed that having a child at this age was the right thing to do. To mock her now for forcing something on her, that she herself didn't want, wouldn't fix anything. It would only make Hermione feel horrible about herself. "Where did you want to go?" Rose asked.

"I was thinking we could go to that new bar that just opened up down the street from your flat," Hermione smiled, bouncing in her chair as if she were a little child on her birthday. "Then we could all just sleep at your place tonight. I think the guys are all going to sleep at Zabini manor," Hermione saw her cousin tense up when she mentioned Zabini manor, and she grinned. "Speaking of the guys, and of a manor, how's Malfoy?"

Shrugging her shoulders a little too harshly, Rose's eyes narrowed at the mention of his name. "I don't know."

"I spoke to Pansy earlier, and she told me that she stopped by here."

"Then you know that I wouldn't know how he's doing."

Hermione knew that tone already. Rose just wanted to drop everything. "Why don't you write to him now?" she asked in an innocent way. "I could owl it to him for you once I get home."

_My girlfriend Betty tells me he's lazy._

_But I know Betty loves him like crazy._

_He is the answer to a teenage prayer._

Rose was sitting at her desk once again. In only fifteen minutes her last client of the day would come to see her. Hermione was already gone, and with her was a letter. Hermione refused to leave until Rose wrote something. Reading loudly as she wrote the letter, she could see the concern in her cousin's eyes towards her. This was new for Rose. Rose wasn't the type to chase someone, but then again… neither was Draco. Rose knew how hard this was for Hermione. Draco was very harsh to her while they were children, but Hermione of all people understood what it meant to grow up. Draco Malfoy apologized only a total of three times in his life.

The first time was the day after the war had ended. He arrived at the Burrow, not caring that wands were pointed directly at him. He walked right up to Hermione and apologized to her face. He apologized for standing there while his aunt tortured her, and for not doing anything to protect her from it. The second time was at his mum's funeral. He was crying at the casket – it was the second time Harry had ever seen him crying before – and apologizing to his mum for not protecting her from the Death Eaters. And according to what Rose told all of them, the third time was when he apologized to her at the restaurant. No one understood what that meant. He apologized for watching a seventeen year old girl being tortured. He apologized for allowing his mum to be killed. Then he apologized for not wanting to go on a date? None of it made sense. Even Pansy and Blaise were confused by his actions.

Rose groaned out loud, and slammed her face against her desk.

_Yes,_

_He is the answer to a teenage prayer!_

**Disclaimer: Song- Teenage Prayer! Artist- Gale Storm, although when I wrote this chapter, I was listening to the Amy Locane version from Crybaby! (:**

**A/N: It's 2 in the morning here, I'm eating hot pockets and peaches n' cream, listening to **_**Black Veil Brides**_** and crying while writing, but right now, I'm just trying to update all my stories, before I leave you guys for a while again!**


	4. You're Beautiful

You're Beautiful

_My life is brilliant._

_My life is brilliant._

_My love is pure._

_I saw an angel,_

_Of that I'm sure._

_She smiled at me on a subway,_

_She was with another man._

_But I won't lose no sleep on that,_

'_cause I've got a plan._

Blaise found him sitting in his study. When Blaise stopped by Draco's office, the receptionist told him that he left earlier than usual. When Blaise found him, he was sitting on the floor with his back against a chair, and cradling a half drunken bottle of firewhiskey next to him. His shirt was completely opened, revealing a bare chest while his pants looked as if he slept in them. With his hair sticking up all over the place, Draco looked as bad as he did the day that he found out that Astoria had been cheating on him for so many months. Blaise was worried.

"Draco," he said, stepping into the study, and walking towards him. "What the bloody hell happened to you?"

"Rose."

"What?" Blaise heard him wrong; that was the only explanation there was to it.

Draco's voice was raspy, and his throat was still burning from the firewhiskey, but he knew that Blaise heard him the first time. "You heard me, you bloody git!" he sneered. "This is your fault. It's your bloody friend that's got me all like this. That damned Granger. I think I'm starting to understand now, why the dark lord wanted to rid this world of muggles."

"Don't you think you're being a little overdramatic," Blaise rolled his eyes.

Forcing the crumpled paper into Blaise's hand, Draco bitterly said, "Read this!"

"So Rose finally wrote to you, eh?" he chuckled.

"Just read it. Aloud!"

**Draco,**

** Sorry it took a week to owl you, but there was a lot going on. My cousin had a pregnancy scare, and as you know, Blaise proposed to Ginny. Congratulations on making best man by the way. I'm not one to make excuses, but I feel like I owe you an explanation. Apparently you aren't used to having to wait for a reply after a date. So I don't want you thinking that I'm purposely avoiding you or anything. Work is hectic right now; you won't believe how many muggles try offing themselves. Pansy stopped by my office earlier, and 'Mione is here right now. She's offered to owl this letter to you for me, seeing as how I haven't been home to do it myself, yet. So here it is…**

** Our date was boring. I mean, I truly did have fun, but that's not me. I don't like expensive restaurants, and I hate having to get all dressed up. The conversation was routine, and I hate having a routine. It bores me. You holding out my chair, and ordering for me was new, but I could tell that it was routine for you as well. You gave me your jacket at my first shiver, and I could tell that it was an automatic reaction for you. You walked me to my door, and I was nervous. I've heard about you, and I was hoping you were different, but you weren't. You're what I'm used to, and I'm bored with what I'm used to. I was waiting for you to take control, but like everyone else, you waited to be invited in.**

** I truly meant to owl you the next morning, but I was woken up by my cousin's hysteric screaming, and I waited… I waited for you to owl me, but once again you didn't. I told you I would owl you, so when I didn't, you didn't bother to take the initiative of owling me instead. In a way, I was looking forward to our second date, but I'm assuming you weren't? I'm tired of boring. I want new. So this isn't going to work out. Thank you for a lovely dinner though, and interesting questions. Some of it was new, but I guess in a way, what was new for me was routine for you. I don't want to get out of one routine just to get stuck into another. As I explained it to you, I'm only a muggle. I'm not ready to settle down, especially not when it's forced into my lap.**

** I wish you the best of luck of finding your second date, and I'll see you at the engagement party.**

** Take care,**

** Rose **

_You're beautiful._

_You're beautiful._

_You're beautiful, it's true._

_I saw your face in a crowded place,_

_And I don't know what to do,_

'_cause I'll never be with you._

They sat in silence for a while. Draco could tell that Blaise just got off of work, and Blaise could tell that Draco was trying to make himself become drunk. Sighing, Blaise sat next to his best mate. This was new for Draco; it was all new. When Astoria left him, he wasn't hurt because she left him; he was heartbroken that she cheated on him. Rose was different. She didn't cheat on him, and they've only known each other for about three hours. Draco was hurt because she didn't want to see him again. Is this what it felt like? Is this what all those girls went through after he kicked them out of his bed?

"I don't get it," Draco said suddenly.

"What's that?"

"Why do I care this much?" he asked, holding the letter up in the air. "Why does this one letter have this much effect on me?" he continued to question. "Why haven't I been able to stop thinking about her since I left her door one week ago?"

Feeling sorry for his best mate, Blaise placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Rose is the first girl who didn't fall at your feet with just one look," he said softly. "She's your equal, and now that it's her who's ending anything before it can even begin, you don't like it."

"Damn right, I don't bloody well like it," Draco scoffed it. "This is your bloody fault Blaise. You and that damn Weaslette, you two are the ones who set this whole thing up. I was fine with never knowing that she existed. I was fine with being annoyed with you for forcing me onto the bloody blind date. Now I want to just hex you for setting this whole thing up. I can't get her out of my bloody mind."

Blaise watched as Draco pulled on his hair while talking, and he shook his head. He knew that Rose was a dangerous girl, but he didn't think she would have this sort of effect on Draco. He and Ginny had hoped that maybe they would quickly fall in love with each other and change the other's provocative ways, but never would they have even imagined that Rose would have broken Draco Malfoy. Maybe a quick; mind blowing shag before parting ways for good, but not this. No one could have ever expected this. "I'll talk to her for you."

"NO!" Draco instantly shouted. "No, don't talk to her for me."

"But Draco-"

"I'll fix this," he shook his head, taking a long gulp from the bottle, and tugging at his hair once more. "She said that she'll see me at the engagement party. I'll talk to her myself, then."

"Why don't you just write her a letter back, and explain to her how you want your second date to be with only her?"

"And sound like some ponce," shaking his head, Draco smirked. Hearing Blaise groan, he chuckled. "I can handle this my own way."

_Yeah, she caught my eye_

_As we walked on by._

_She could see from my face_

_That I was fucking high._

_And I don't think that I'll see her again,_

_But we shared a moment that will last 'til the end._

Cradling the bottle against his chest, Draco continued to sit on the floor of his sitting room. It's been an hour since Blaise left him, and he was left alone once more. Like always. Blaise came over to invite him over to his own manor so he could spend some time with the other guys, while all the women went out to celebrate in muggle London. A part of Draco wanted to show up at every spot in muggle London that he thought they would be at, just so he could see her again, but he knew that would be considered as stalking and stalking was frowned upon no matter what your blood was.

That was what annoyed him the most. He wasn't one to hate someone because of their blood. He never really was. Growing up he had to pick on Hermione because of his parents, and their beliefs, but he never truly believed in them. He just had to keep it a show. But even knowing that he had nothing against muggle-borns or muggles in general, he was more annoyed with the fact that not only was Rose a muggle, but she was Hermione Granger's first bloody cousin. It annoyed him to no end. It wasn't as if she were some pureblooded witch who turned him down. Or even a half blood. Or some regular muggle or muggle-born, that he randomly decided to ask out. She was the muggle cousin of the number one muggle-born witch whose childhood, and teenaged years, he made a living hell. She was a muggle who didn't bother to hide the fact that she was forced and threatened to go on a date with him in the first place. She was bored by him._ Him!_ Draco Malfoy! Who the bloody hell was bored by Draco Malfoy?

_You're beautiful._

_You're beautiful._

_You're beautiful, it's true._

_I saw your face in a crowded place,_

_And I don't know what to do,_

'_cause I'll never be with you._

He was lying down now. His back was stretched against the roughness of the emerald colored carpet he was on. And he chuckled again. Tilting the bottle to his lips, he felt the heat of the strong liquid fall down his lips, around his mouth, pass his ears, and onto his neck. Emerald; she hated the color green, yet it was the color of his pride. The color of his only true home and the one color he always found solace in. Emerald was the color of both his Black, and his Malfoy families, and it was the color of Slytherin. Emerald was the color of his soul, practically. This insane woman hated his favorite color.

Yet, she was still trapped in his mind. Thinking back to the night that he first met her, he could hear the strong bells in her voice. Shutting his eyes, he smiled as he saw the warmness of her smile while her peach scent flooded his nostrils. Keeping his eyes shut, he tried his hardest to keep her in his memory. This was all new to him. He's known her for only three hours, but he felt as if she were already his whole world. Is this what Blaise felt every time he would even hear Ginny's name? Is this why Blaise was always miserable back in school, because he's felt this way about Ginny ever since sixth year, and he couldn't act on it until after the war ended? If this was, then Blaise deserved some type of award. No man… no scratch that – no human being should ever deserve to feel this way. This wasn't a punishment that he would even wish on the Dark Lord himself. And that bastard deserved his death. Yep! This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all.

_You're beautiful._

_You're beautiful._

_You're beautiful, it's true._

_There must be an angel with a smile on her face,_

_When she thought up that I should be with you._

_But it's time to face the truth,_

_I will never be with you._

**Disclaimer: Song- You're Beautiful by James Blunt!**

**A/N: I know I said that I wasn't going to update for a while because of my family problems and that I need a break, but I've learned that writing is my break. And although I'm not updating all my stories, I find myself looking forward to posting up all the chapters to this story already at 330 in the morning(: I wont of course, but I do want to hurry up and post it all for you guys already. This story's completely finished on my laptop already, and I'm excited for you guys to see how it ends! Thank you for all of your reviews and for favoriting and alerting this story! I truly do love all of you (:**


	5. Headphones On

Headphones On

"I'm going to get killed," Dean sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. Feeling like a third person who was closely watching the scene take place, he saw the darkened hand reach out and knock on the door. Everyone thought that he would have raised hell when Ginny began to date Blaise, but instead he only laughed. He claimed to have always known that his ex-girlfriend had a thing for black men.

"Come in," the harsh voice ordered. Taking in a deep breath, Dean entered the office. Draco looked up from his paperwork, and quirked an eyebrow. He was confused. "Thomas?" he questioned. His old schoolmate and occasional Auror partner was standing in his office. Draco could see the shifty way the dark brown eyes closely watched him, and the way one hand tugged at the bottom of his grey jumper, while his other hand scratched at the bristle looking curls on his head.

Nodding his head, Dean pressed a smile into his lips. "Hullo Malfoy. How have you been?"

"Just lovely," he muttered, his eyes darkening a shade. He had no doubt that Rose was laughing it up with her cousin and their Gryffindor friends. It's been only three days since he received the letter from her, and he still hadn't been able to sleep properly.

Dean heard the sarcasm in Draco's voice, and he grinned. This was perfect then. Draco was miserable. "I'm going to get hexed or killed for being here," he said suddenly.

"Then you should leave," lowering his head, Draco started to sort through the papers once more. "Wouldn't want that now would we?"

"Oh shut up Malfoy," Dean rolled his eyes. Walking forward, he threw himself down into the chair where he assumed Draco's clients were usually offered to sit. "I'm here to help you."

"Help me with what?"

"Rose is like a sister to me," ignoring the snarl that was now coming from Draco, Dean continued on. "And in a way, she is my cousin-in-law. Hermione and I may not be legally married yet, but we are engaged. And I want you to know that I love Rose more like a real sister than an in-law. Seamus, Harry, Ron, and Blaise all feel the same way."

"Is there a point to this heartwarming intrusion?" Draco asked, still refusing to look up from his work. This sounded like an interrogation to him; one of those interrogations that brothers only did to the guy dating their sister. And as far as he was concerned, he wasn't.

Dean sighed. He took in a deep breath and released it. Both of his hands moved upwards to rub his face. "There's this bake sale that Hermione entered," he started to explain. Draco's quill stopped moving, and curious silver eyes were now staring up at him. "Hermione can't bake to save her life, so Rose offered to bake the cupcakes for her. She's also making some cookies, and a couple of cakes, I think. Hermione and Pansy both have to work today, and Lavender refuses to go anywhere near a kitchen. And well you remember Luna from school," Draco quickly nodded his head; it wouldn't be safe to let her near anywhere near a kitchen. "My mum used to work at this bakery down the road from my house, so I volunteered to be the one to help Rose out."

"Help her out with what?" Draco had a feeling where this was going, and he rubbed his chin in a mischievous way. He had a new respect for Dean now. At least he would have a new respect for him if this was going where he wanted it to.

"Although her flat is larger than what most twenty-two year old muggles live in, and her appliances are all very well huge, the most cupcakes she can bake at a time would be ninety six. She needs at least four hundred cupcakes at minimum. Not to mention about four hundred cookies and I think five cakes. She needs someone to go over, and place a spell on the oven so she can bake at least two hundred cupcakes at a time. It would make things easier for her."

Draco nodded his head. Why was it that most of the Gryffindors probably would have been better off in Slytherin? Dean Thomas was a sneaky one. "And she needs help to make all the baked items?"

"Which is why everyone agreed that I would be the best to help her," Dean nodded his head. At least Draco wasn't as daft as Crabbe and Goyle were. He caught on quickly without having to be told step by step of what the plan was. "I mean Rose is an excellent baker. The girl can cook and bake to the point that she should own her own restaurant. But there's no way she can bake a total of eight hundred and five things on her own, by seven tomorrow morning. She needs help."

_Home with my headphones on_

_And with the stuff on the floor_

_And the lock on my door._

The sounds of the muggle music echoed around the flat while Rose danced around off beat. Dressed in nothing more than tiny grey shorts that could have passed as boy short knickers, and a cut up black t-shirt that ended right above her navel and hung off her shoulders, she had her hair tied back into a bun. Dean was running about half an hour late, but that was alright because she already had the first batch of ninety six cupcakes in her oven. Standing in front of the kitchen counter, she could smell the vanilla goodness baking in the oven mixing in with the chocolate she was standing in front of. Rocking her body to a rhythm that the song didn't provide, she was smiling. The kitchen's window allowed the sun to shine in brightly on her, and her kitchen's counter top was covered with all sorts of opened flour bags, pans filled with the cupcake cups, and tubes of frosting. A large bowl filled with eggs sat in one corner of the counter top, while she had bags of sugar next to the flour, baking soda, salt, and measuring cups/spoons scattered all about. The bottle of milk was still opened, and next to the bowl she was mixing the vanilla cupcakes in was the pot of melted chocolates that still sat on the stove.

Hearing the knock from the front of the flat, Rose shouted, "It's open, I'm in the kitchen!" not bothering to question on why Dean was knocking outside of the flat, and didn't just floo right in like he always does, she continued to dance around in her spot while mixing the chocolate cupcakes.

Entering the flat, Draco paused. Yellow curtains were directly across from him, allowing the sun to shine in, and completely ignoring the purpose of a curtains job. A cream colored couch was set in the middle of the sitting room with two cream colored couch chairs. A large glass table sat in the middle of it all. He found himself gawking at the unbelievably large 78" flat screened telly that stood up off the floor surrounded by movies, and video games. There was a mantel covered in tiny little glass figurines, and framed pictures of his old school mates. He noted that there were also framed pictures hanging on the wall. His eyes landed on one of Rose and Pansy laughing into the camera. He saw that they were all muggle pictures. None of them moved.

"You alright Dean?" Rose shouted from the kitchen.

Sighing, Draco decided that he had to enter the kitchen eventually. Suddenly though, he wasn't feeling as brave as he was when Dean first approached him. Inhaling the rich aroma of the baking cupcakes, he shook off his nerves. He had to do it. And he had to do it now. "Thomas got called away on Auror business."

Dropping the cup of flour that she was just about to mix into the bowl, Rose shrieked at the new voice entering her kitchen. Turning towards the kitchens entrance, she felt her cheeks burning. "Draco."

He chuckled. When the flour dropped onto the floor, it flew back up and covered her. Her ivory cheeks were now caked with flour while her black shirt looked as if it were meant to have white spots on it. "Hullo again, Rose."

Yep! He was still hot. The dampness of her knickers reminded her so. And it didn't help that he was dressed in just a plain grey t-shirt with black jeans. The irony of his clothing colors matching her clothing colors didn't skip her mind either. Her eyes landed on the dark mark on his forearm, and she nearly whimpered at the sight of it. Draco Malfoy was the type of guy she could see herself falling for… if he wasn't so planned out. "Where's Dean?" proud of herself for being able to hold in her shaking voice, she calmly dropped to the floor and picked up the cup. She could always clean up later.

Damn. He was hoping that she would take one look at him, and realize how much of a mistake she made for leaving him before they even began. Dean told him that she was more moody than usual since she owled him that letter, but Draco couldn't see it. She didn't look as miserable as he had been feeling these past days. She seemed fine, as if she didn't think about him not once. "He had to go on an emergency mission," he lied, walking to the counter. "He asked me to come over and help you though. He knew that I was off today, and I have some baking skills," both lies as well.

"You know how to bake?" she didn't believe him. She couldn't picture Draco Malfoy spending his time in a kitchen learning how to bake. The guy was raised by his house-elves.

He could see that she knew he was lying, but she didn't seem to be annoyed it. "Don't doubt my baking skills," he said, trying to sound offended. "Now come on, we have things to bake and ovens to expand."

Reminding herself to kill Dean for this, Rose pointed at the stove. The vanilla cupcakes only had four more minutes until they were finished, which was when Draco would expand it for her. After owling him the letter, she went right back into her old ways. It was one of the reasons she hated routine so much. Wake up, jog, and go to work. Lunch would often be spent with one of her friends or her cousin then she would go back to work. It was when she got home that things fell out of routine though. She would either go out to the bar or to a club on her own. Some nights she would stay in and eat junk food while watching random movies, or some nights she would cook herself a fantastic meal for one. There would be nights when she would go out and eat at a pub by herself or she would go over to one of her friends' houses. Sometimes she would invite them over, and sometimes they would show up unannounced. It was her nights that she didn't have to play by some routine – as long as she wasn't being forced out on a blind date – that she thought about Draco constantly, and she knew that she may have been a bit moodier than usual, but it was understandable. He let her down. She didn't even realize she was depending on him to be the guy for her until he didn't owl her.

_10:28 on the digital clock._

_I know it's late, but I just can't stop._

_All this jumping around, all this wasting time;_

_It's getting to be a habit of mine._

_You would think I didn't wanna get paid,_

_I'm not the type to procrastinate,_

_But a girl can't always be well behaved._

The kitchen was larger than the few muggle homes he's been inside of. The oven was implanted into the wall between the cabinets. There was an island in the middle of the kitchen, which is where they were now mixing the ingredients for the next batch of cupcakes. Because he came late, there were only ninety six chocolate cupcakes in the oven this time. The first batches of vanilla cupcakes were sitting on the counter nearest to the window, which was deeper into the kitchen. He saw there were all sorts of pans scattered around; ready to be used. He also noted that the silver refrigerator was the type that professional chefs normally keep in their homes. The counters were all made up of cream colored marble while the floors were black and cream colored marble tiles. She had the home of a rich a muggle, and it impressed him. She didn't flaunt her riches when they first met, like most women do. Nor did she seem all that impressed by his riches, like all women are.

"Oh god," Rose started laughing when she turned to check on how Draco was doing. "I thought you said you knew what you were doing?"

"Shut up," he growled, wiping the flour and egg batter out of his hair. He didn't know what happened. One minute he was mixing the flour and the eggs into the large mixing bowl, when suddenly the spoon slipped and he was now covered in it.

Continuing to laugh, Rose opened one of the drawers in the island, and handed him a yellow rag. "Here, use this to clean yourself up."

"Thanks," he muttered, accepting the rag and wiping the goo out of his hair.

Rose shook her head, while getting back to her own bowl. "You have no idea what you're doing, do you?"

"Is it that obvious?"

"A little," she nodded her head. "Thanks for trying though."

"It sounded easy," he admitted, tossing the rag onto the counter, and turning around so that his back could lean against it.

"It usually does," she laughed, nodding her head. "Here, how about I help you mix your batch, so you'll understand what to do when we get to the cookies, and cake."

Draco was in charge of the key lime cupcakes. They were making ninety six of four different flavors, except for the last two batches. They needed more than only three hundred and eighty six. So they added an extra six to the final two batches. The vanilla was already finished while the chocolate was in the oven. Rose only had to add two more ingredients to her red velvet cupcakes, but she decided she could do it while she leaves Draco to pour in his own cupcake batter. Draco watched as she emptied his bowl into the trash can, causing another cloud of flour to attack her. He watched as she used her arm to wipe away the flour from her face, and continue as if nothing just happened. He watched as she made her way back to the counter, and scooped the flour into the measuring cups. Talking as she made each movement, Draco saw how innocently beautiful she was with no makeup on. Dressed in what was considered to be lazy sweats, with her hair tied back and covered in flour, she was innocently beautiful. It was amazing how much more beautiful she was now, than the night they met.

Standing in front of Draco because of their height difference, Rose wrapped his arms around her, not noticing how his breath hitched at her brash move. Covering his hand with hers, she scooped more flour into the mixing bowl. Reaching over, she didn't hear him gasp as her arse pressed against his lap. Laughing as Draco's hand shook and caused the sugar to fly all over the place; Rose didn't get irritated at the mess he was making. She was enjoying this actually. This was definitely new to her. This wasn't boring, nor was this a routine for either of them. She's never baked with someone who wasn't considered as family to her, and Draco's never baked at all before. This was new territory for both of them, and for once in her life, Rose didn't feel like this whole thing had been awkwardly set up or written out for her.

Cracking the eggs into the bowl while Rose measured out the water and oil, Draco could have purred at the movements from the girl against him. Rose helped Draco to measure out the right amount of key lime rind, and the cream of tartar. Keeping his hand in hers, she slowly began to mix it all together with a large wooden spoon. It was awkward how normal this felt to him. Just like how it was awkwardly comfortable when they were alone in silence. Forgetting about how she thought of him as boring, and forgetting how she practically stood him up, Draco laughed when his hand slipped, and some of the batter flew onto Rose's cheek. She didn't get pissed with him, and move to wipe it off. Instead, she only laughed, dipped her finger into the batter, and wiped some onto his cheek as well. They were both in the moment; a fun moment that neither of them noticed.

_I wanna stay home with my headphones on_

_With the stuff on the floor_

_And the lock on my door._

_I lost my keys in the mess I made,_

_So I can't go anywhere anyway._

_So rock on with the headphones on._

_Got a lot of nothing to do._

_I'm not getting it done and I'm loving it too._

_Twenty four hours since I've been outside,_

_But it feels okay, it feels alright._

Chocolate sat next to vanilla, while key lime and red velvet mixed together in the oven. Forbidding Draco to use his wand to clean everything up, Rose guided him to the sink. Within five minutes all of the cupcake things were gone. Every dish they used was washed, and ready to be used again. There was still half an hour left in the oven, and they needed to quickly make the cookies. Tossing Draco a bowl, Rose laid out the cookie pans. Soon, all the ingredients were set out in front of them.

"Each pan can hold about twenty four cookies," she told him. "We can lay out six pans in the oven, just like with the cupcakes. So instead of baking about four different times for each batch, we only need to bake twice."

"Got it," Draco nodded his head, looking eager to mix something else. "What do I do?"

"You can make the chocolate chip cookies," Rose said. "It's the easiest so far. You can do chocolate chip, and sugar cookies."

"Right," Draco nodded his head again. "How?"

Staring up at Draco, Rose took in her sight. He seemed to be so eager to help her bake, and this was a priceless moment. Suddenly wishing she had a camera in her hands to remember this sight forever, she laughed. Draco was starting to redden. He didn't understand why she was laughing, and thought she was mocking him, which only made Rose laugh even harder. Reaching across the counter for a shining pan, she held it up in front of him. Soon Draco was laughing as well. This was a funny sight. The flour and egg mixture seemed to form some type of glue, and one portion of his hair was now sticking up. Holding onto his ribs to prevent them from breaking, Draco took in how his entire features were covered in flour. He looked just as attacked as Rose did, and it humored him.

"Grab the flour," she quickly ordered him, suddenly turning away from him. This was wrong. She was Rose Granger. She didn't feel strongly about someone. She shouldn't feel this comfortable with him. She shouldn't want to reach up, and pet his hair. If he was anybody else, she would have jumped onto him already. But he wasn't anybody else. He would forget about her the next morning.

Draco sensed her mood change, and quirked an eyebrow, but said nothing about it. She was having fun; he knew she was, but then she suddenly stopped it. "I'm surprised you're off today," he said, imitating her motions, and pouring the flour into his own bowl. "Blaise told me that almost all of your clients are conspiring against you."

"They are," Rose nodded her head. "They're either bloody trying to kill themselves or others in some sort of bloody order. But I called in today."

"You can do that?" he asked, now cracking more eggs. "You can just call in, and suddenly they stop trying to off themselves?"

Laughing at Draco's innocence, Rose shook her head, "We have an emergency therapist that they can see if anything. And if it's that much of an emergency, the hospital will call me, again."

"Oh."

She gave him a minute to continue the questioning, but it never came. "What about you?" she asked, moving over to help him dump the chocolate chips in now. "I didn't know that lawyers had days off?"

"I deserved a break," Draco shrugged his shoulders.

_I could go to school another day._

_Don't understand why I dance all day._

_You know what they say about_

_All work and no play._

The kitchen was filled with all sorts of rich melting aromas, and squeals of laughter. Rose had been balling up her dough to lay them out onto the pans, when she suddenly jumped. The random outburst caused her bowl to fly, and land on top of Draco's head. Draco then decided to retaliate by taking a cup of flour and flying it at her. Soon, they were both chasing each other around the island, flying flour, sugar, eggs, and even water at the other. The kitchen was a mess, and it looked like they both fell into a baker's dumpster.

Draco couldn't remember when he ever had this much fun. When he was in school, he was always trying to keep his grades up to impress his father, and beat Potter at Quidditch, that he never got to act childish. After the war, he went straight into getting a good job to prove to everyone that he wasn't just a Malfoy who lived off of his families' inheritances. He was eighteen when he became engaged, and now at twenty two, he was a lawyer. He never had the time to just settle down and take a break from everything. _Malfoys don't take breaks_ – that was one of the many rules while growing up. Now he understood why Malfoys were always so uptight. They never had the chance to experience a baked good fight with a beautiful woman. They never took the time to escape work, and attempt to bake. Malfoys didn't run around a kitchen, flying flour at a squealing beautiful woman, nor were they alright with the idea of being drenched in eggs and sugar themselves. For the first time in his life, Draco didn't feel like a Malfoy. And he loved it.

_I wanna stay home with my headphones on._

_With the stuff on the floor_

_And the lock on my door._

_I lost my keys in the mess I made,_

_So I can't go anywhere anyway._

_So rock on with the headphones on._

_With the headphones on._

Snicker doodles, and chocolate chips cookies were added to the counter that was already covered in cupcakes. Grateful for Draco transfiguring towels into racks so that everything could fit, Rose found herself slipping back into a comforting feeling with Draco and tried to hide inside of her baking once more. Making sure to keep her distance from him, she told him how to make the sugar cookies, while she made her own butter pecans. Humming along with the song that was now playing, she tried her hardest to do anything other than look at Draco. The occasional glances that she would sneak his way showed him smiling to himself. It was a genuine smile that had her heart failing on her. No – this wasn't supposed to happen. She wasn't supposed to fall for Draco Malfoy.

_It's like fireworks in my head._

_Above the clouds, I may never get to bed._

_Can't turn back now, don't wanna come down._

_You would think I didn't wanna get paid._

_I'm not the type to procrastinate,_

_But a girl can't always be well behaved._

"What do we have to do after this?" Draco asked, not noticing the inner battle that Rose was fighting with herself. "Thomas said something about cakes as well?"

"Mhmm," she replied, refusing to look up at him. Her legs were throbbing with how tightly she was holding them together. "We're only making five cakes. So they can all go into the oven at one time."

"Oh," he tried to hide his disappointment, but he knew it was useless. The bird that was chirping out on the fire escape could hear his disappointment. It was almost over now. Once the cakes were in the oven, he no longer had a reason to stay.

She tried to stop herself, but it was too late. The words escaped before she could control it. "Unless you wanna stay and help me put on the frosting. By the time the cakes are in the oven, the cupcakes should be completely finished by then. And there's four hundred that I have to decorate."

"Alright," Draco smiled. On the outside, it was a simple smile. But on the inside he was doing an Irish step dance while fireworks exploded in his eyes.

_I wanna stay home with my headphones on._

_With the stuff on the floor_

_And the lock on my door._

_I lost my keys in the mess I made,_

_So I can't go anywhere anyway._

The cakes were the most fun to make. Bowls fell to the floor. Flour clouded up the air. A wooden spoon broke, and shells got crushed. Draco had to repair a shattered cake pan, and Rose was crying from laughing so hard. Running across the kitchen to grab something from the refrigerator, Draco slipped and fell on the water from their earlier fight, and landed on a couple cracked eggs. Chocolate was melting on the stove once more, while Rose had to constantly remind Draco that the harder he mixes the batter, the more it's going to fly everywhere. Twenty minutes, and another food fight later, the oven had five new items to bake.

_I wanna stay home with my headphones on._

_With the stuff on the floor_

_And the lock on my door._

_I lost my keys in the mess I made,_

_So I can't go anywhere anyway._

Rose was amazed by Draco's artistic skills. Whereas she simply just covered the cupcakes in either buttercream, vanilla, or chocolate frosting, then decorated it with stripes or dots; Draco was using the cupcakes as his sketch pad. One of the red velvet cupcakes was covered in the buttercream frosting, but he drew a blossomed rose on it. One of the vanilla cupcakes had a snake on it, and he even drew a lion on a couple of the chocolate ones. Soon, Rose was ashamed by her own cupcakes. They were paled in comparison to Draco's masterpieces. She was almost saddened by the idea that these would be eaten. His work would be destroyed. Draco was all she could think of while she continued to decorate her own. Humming along to whatever song was now playing throughout her flat; she felt her body moving once again.

"That's cute."

Looking down to see what she drew, Rose felt her cheeks boil. Without realizing what she was doing, she drew hearts on the past twenty something cupcakes. Big hearts, tiny hearts, single hearts, joined hearts, two hearts, one heart, bunched hearts… it was all hearts. "Thanks," she muttered, concentrating harder now to make sure she stuck to her stripes and dots.

Smiling to himself, Draco liked to tell himself that he was on her mind when she drew the hearts. He watched her for a while, and he could see it on Rose's face that she was heavily lost in her thoughts. It was clearly evident that she had no idea what she was doing. "Oh," he said after a while.

"What?"

"There are no more cupcakes."

"Oh," suddenly grateful that she no longer had to be alone with him, Rose started to wipe her hands on her shirt. "And the cakes are going to take all night to cool down, so I can just decorate them in the morning."

"Oh," suddenly saddened by the thought that he was no longer going to be alone with her, Draco pointed around at the kitchen, "Well, I can stay and help you clean up."

"No," pushing him out of the kitchen, and towards her fire place, Rose shook her head, "No, that isn't necessary. You've been a great help today Draco. Thanks for helping me out."

Realizing that he was now standing right in front of a fireplace, Draco sighed. Turning around, he scratched the back of his neck as he stared down at her. "Well… erm… I had fun today. Thanks for teaching me how to bake."

"No problem," she smiled, just wishing he would hurry up and leave. Didn't he realize what he did to her when they were alone? Didn't he see that she was holding herself back from shagging him? Wasn't it obvious enough that she refused to let him break her? "I had fun too. I should probably start cleaning up the kitchen, and you should probably go home and shower. I can't imagine that getting all of the flour and egg out of your hair will be any fun."

Chuckling, Draco felt nervous again. He wanted to mention the letter. He wanted to ask her if he was still boring, but he didn't want to ruin today. He wanted to grab her, and slam her against the table next to them, but he didn't want her to think he only wanted to shag her. The emotions running through his heart were different to him. He had never been so nervous before. "I'll see you at the engagement party," feeling some of his old nerves return to him, Draco leaned in and slowly kissed Rose's cheek. She tasted of peaches mixed in with flour, egg, water, oil, sugar, vanilla and pudding. He wanted to taste more, but managed to somehow pull himself away from her.

"I'll see you then," she smiled, scared to take even a step away from him, in fear of falling on her face. The kiss he planted on her cheek left a wet mark. A burning wet mark. She wanted more, but soon the neon green swallowed Draco up, and he was gone. Falling to her knees, Rose placed her hand on her cheek. "What the bloody hell are you doing to me, Draco?" she asked the empty fireplace in a low whisper.

_So rock on with the headphones on._

_With the headphones on._

_With the headphones on!_

**I hope you guys liked this chapter. Please review it! I'm so nervous as its coming closer to the end. There's only 4 chapters left of this one! (:**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the song… Headphones On by Miranda Cosgrove!**


	6. Promise The Stars

**Warning: This chapter contains contents that explains why this story is rated M! I don't want to give away too much, but let's just say that you guys will most likely be both pleased and disappointed with what happens! You have been warned(:**

Promise The Stars

_Let's take off and fly,_

_And race through the sky,_

_And like the hundreds of airplanes_

_We're floating up high._

_We'll never look down_

_We'll build our own town._

_And like the thousands of clouds,_

_We will never touch the ground._

It's been one whole month since Draco helped her to bake. When Dean showed up at her flat later that night to apologize for having to work, he was greeted with flying knives, and a disgusting kitchen. Rose was still covered in food, and Dean was confused. He thought that by sending Draco over to her flat, everything would have been fixed, not more broken than when he left them alone together. Quickly flooing over to Pansy for help, he was nearly hexed when he told her what he did. It's been one month since that day Rose was left alone with him, and Draco hadn't owled her… still.

Sitting on the edge of her bed, Rose held the bottle of whiskey to her lips. She was all dressed up, and she didn't want to go. Tonight was the engagement party, and tonight was when they would make the announcements. She was being held against her will as the matron of honor, while king bloody mighty himself would be the best man. She debated on whether she really wanted to go or not. She knew in her heart that she couldn't let down Ginny and Blaise, but she also knew in her heart that this past month had somehow weakened her. She promised herself that she wouldn't let Draco get into her head, but now… he was the_ only _thing in her head. She tried to convince herself that he was still boring, but that day in her kitchen threw her off her guard. He was anything but boring. He was anything but practiced. He was smooth, and he was good. He knew how to get what he wanted, and it excited her that for the moment, it was her. At least she thought it was her… until he didn't owl her.

"Whoa now, lassie," lifting her eyes up, Rose glared at the Irish man who took away her whiskey bottle. Dressed in black slacks with a white jacket, Seamus looked extremely handsome. His Irish green eyes stared down at her, while a hand brushed through his shortly buzzed sand colored hair. "Wouldn't want you drunk before the party now would we?"

"No," she muttered bitterly. "Of course not."

"You look lovely, Rose."

Scowling as her best friend's boyfriend took a sip of her whiskey, Rose sighed. "Thanks Seamus. You look pretty good yourself."

"Of course I do," he smirked, "Look who me girlfriend is. You know, yer best friend; the witch who's going to murder you when she sees that you're sitting on yer bed, drinking whiskey in yer gown – muggle whiskey, mind you."

"I don't want to go," Rose frowned.

"I don't know much about weddings," Seamus chuckled, sitting next to her on the bed, and taking another sip from the bottle, "But I'm pretty sure that the matron of honor has to be there."

"Why didn't she ask 'Mione," Rose was still frowning. "They've known each other longer," hearing a snicker instead of a real reply, she turned to Seamus. "Why are you here anyway? Did Pans send you to drag me to the manor?"

"I volunteered," he shook his head. "Lavender was saying something about coming to check on you."

Her face paled. When she first met everyone, Rose instantly clicked with Pansy and Blaise. It was funny now that she thought about it: her two best friends were the only two Slytherins in the group. And the other Slytherin was driving her mentally insane. She fell into a close connection with Seamus and Dean more than she did with Harry or Ron. And she loved Ginny and Luna. But she couldn't stand Lavender. They would talk, and Lavender would sometimes come to her for advice on her relationship with Ron, but they weren't close. "In that case," pulling the bottle away from Seamus's lips, Rose took a long gulp. "You may escort me to the party."

_But would you risk some broken bones_

_Just to call this place home?_

_This could be home._

"I can't believe you're getting married, mate," Draco chuckled, holding out his glass filled with champagne to Blaise. "It seems like only yesterday we were standing by your window, waiting for your acceptance into Hogwarts."

Chuckling, Blaise saw his mate's eyes scanning the manor. "Seamus went to retrieve her," he informed him. "She'll be here soon enough."

Embarrassed that he had been caught searching for Rose, Draco took a long sip. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure you don't," Blaise chuckled, shaking his head.

Draco's eyes met Hermione's, and there seemed to be an understanding in the toffee brown. Quickly saying her goodbyes to the group she was just talking to, Hermione walked over to the talking duo. Draco noticed how much she grew up over the years. And now that he stared at her closely, he could see the small resemblances between her and her cousin. Dressed in an auburn colored gown that reached her knees, he saw how she had no straps on her gown. There was a slit that reached up to her thighs, and his eyes spotted the scar caused by his aunt. Quickly removing his eyes from her arm, he saw that, in her own way, Hermione was just as beautiful as her cousin. Whereas Rose's curls seemed tamed both times he saw her, Hermione's curls were braided back, with a couple of loose rings hanging in her face, and it seemed to be starting to frizz once more. A light auburn shade of eye shadow teased her eyes, while she wore a light amount of pale lipstick. Gold balls pierced her ears, while she wore four inch high spiked heels, making her the same height as him. Approaching them, Hermione kissed Blaise's cheek, then turned and did the same to Draco.

"Hullo Blaise, Malfoy," Hermione smiled.

"Hermione," Blaise grinned, "Where's Dean at? I figured he wouldn't dare leave you alone looking like that?"

Chuckling, Hermione playfully slapped her best friend's fiancée's, arm. "He's with Ron and Harry right now. They're teasing Ginny for being all grown up."

"In that case," he handed Hermione his glass, "I should go rescue my bride to be."

Realizing that he was now left alone with the one person he wronged the most in the world, Draco finished off his glass, "You look lovely tonight Granger," he said, breaking the silence.

"Thank you Malfoy," she giggled, already knowing the reason for his awkwardness, and his shifty eyes. "You look quite handsome yourself. Promise me a dance tonight."

"Excuse me?" her demanding request caught him off guard.

"Nothings cuter than seeing the bad boy you're trying your hardest to avoid, asking your cousin – his former enemy – to dance," she smirked, then nodding her chin towards the door, Hermione grinned, "You can stop searching now, Malfoy. She's here."

_Maybe I'm down low._

_Maybe I'm up high._

_Maybe I'm losing my own mind._

_You know that there are no other two hearts closer than ours._

_Maybe you'll follow._

_Maybe you'll stay._

_I'm praying you won't give yourself away._

_You know that you are the only I promise the stars._

_You are…_

Draco's jaw dropped, causing Hermione to close it back up for him and snicker. All eyes turned to look at the woman who entered the room with one arm linked with Seamus's. It looked as if this engagement party was meant just for her, and Draco wished that it were. He felt ready to get down on one knee at this point. Her hair was flat, falling gracefully just past her thighs, making him curious as to how Hermione would look with straight hair. He noticed that all of her jewels were changed to a bronze color now, while her makeup matched the same setup from the night he first met her. Of course though, the pink was replaced with a golden color. Wearing a bronze gown, its thin straps hugged her neck, just like the first dress he's ever seen her in. This time though, it fell just past her ankles, which were strapped up in bronze colored six inch heels. He chuckled when he saw her toes; brown and gold.

"I want to go home," Rose whined once she saw Draco drink her cousin's glass in one sip. His hair reminded her of when they first met. It stuck up from being tugged at too much. Whimpering as she had a sudden image of her running her own fingers through his hair, she felt Seamus pull her down the stairs. Draco was walking towards them, and she took in his suit. Black slacks with a black jacket over a silver colored oxford shirt. His Slytherin colored tie was loose around his neck, proving that he had been tugging on that as well. Suddenly, she wondered what it would be like to pull him by that tie into an abandoned room. "Seamus," she pleaded.

Looking over at Draco, Seamus smirked. The month was up, and the deal was over. They were allowed to set Rose up with anyone now, but they all came together as a group. The only person they would try to trap her with was Draco. This was starting to become fun for them. The two Casanova's were struggling as they fought their emotions, and their twisted friends were getting pleasure from all of it. "Hullo Malfoy."

Resisting the urge to stomp on Seamus's toes with her heels, Rose smiled up at Draco. "You look handsome tonight Draco."

Draco wanted to laugh as he watched the object of his affection struggle with herself. "You look beautiful tonight, Rose," Draco admitted. He wanted to add in that she looked absolutely breathtaking, and he wanted to marry her, but he didn't want to sound like a ponce. "Finnigan," he finally acknowledged his former enemy.

"Congrats on making best man," Seamus said, filling in the heated silence, trying to hold in his amusement… they also had galleons on the line at who would break first. All of the males including Pansy bet against Draco. Rose was a better player at this than he was. Everyone else bet for Draco because as females who once went to school with him, they knew that Rose stood no chance. "I heard that you won out of six brothers."

Chuckling, Draco nodded his head, "Yeah, for a while I thought that anything red was out to hex me."

"Well there's me girl," Seamus grinned, releasing Rose's arm, and nodding towards Pansy who was watching them carefully. "I promised her the first dance."

"Speaking of dancing," Draco held his hand out for Rose, "Would you like to dance with me, Rose?"

Chewing on her bottom lip, Rose wanted to become a coward and run back to the fireplace, but Seamus spelled it so that she couldn't leave without some sort of escort. "Alright," she sighed, accepting his hand.

_With your hand in mine,_

_We'll soar through the night._

_And like the dozens of spaceships,_

_We'll dance with satellites._

_We'll keep our eyes closed,_

_And we won't let go._

_And with the millions of stars,_

_We'll never be alone._

"They look so beautiful together," Luna sighed in her dreamy voice.

Chuckling, Harry shook his head. "Does anyone have a camera? I never thought I'd see the day when Malfoy was dancing with a Granger."

"Ugh," Hermione shuddered. "Malfoy's dancing with a Granger. Am I the only one who thinks that's eerie?"

"Oh hush up Hermione," Ginny smiled. "Look at them. I still say that Rose is going to crack first. Draco's too suave to fall for her lines."

"I wouldn't count on it, love," Blaise laughed. "I've heard Draco's lines, and I've seen Rose weaken a muggle once with just a stare. Draco stands no chance."

"Exactly," Pansy also grinned. "My girl's got this. Draco is doomed."

"I bet he's already planning on how to propose to her," Ron added in.

Gently slapping her fiancée's chest, Lavender shook her head while taking in the dancing scene. "No way, look at how she shuts her eyes against his chest. She's fighting it, but it won't last long."

Breathing in Draco's scent, Rose's eyes automatically fluttered shut. He smelt like sandalwood, and she was taken back to that time in the seventh grade. They were making things in her woodshop class, and Jimmy Brooks – the boy she's had a crush on since the third grade – came up to her and gave her a wooden box. It was made of sandalwood, and still smelt fresh. When she opened it up, there was a note inside of it, asking if she'd go out with him. Ever since then, she's loved the scent of sandalwood. Hermione was the only one who knew the story, and she was grateful for that. Because from now on, she had a feeling that every time she smelt sandalwood, she would picture this moment: wrapped up gently in Draco's arms, with his chin resting on her hair, and her face resting against his chest. This felt so right. It felt too right. She didn't want it to end.

"May I cut in?"

Reluctantly pulling away from Draco, Rose smiled up at Blaise. She would punch him in the throat for this later. "Of course," Draco held back his sneer. He would hex Blaise for this later. Handing Rose's hand to Blaise, Draco looked for Ginny, but she was dancing with her brother Bill.

"You look good tonight Blaise," Rose said, dancing against him, but not as intimately as she was with Draco. When she danced with Draco, there were no words between them. Just a silent connection filled with romantic music.

"Thank you," he grinned, holding one hand in his, and placing his other hand on her waist, while she held one hand on his shoulder. "You look lovely as well."

"Thanks," she didn't blush. Hearing she looked lovely was nothing in comparison to Draco telling her how beautiful she looked.

"I hope you don't mind my cutting in."

"Of course not," she lied. In a way though, she was grateful for it. For a second there, she wanted to just run away with Draco and forget about the world. "This is a beautiful dinner party. Molly and your mum really outdid themselves this time."

Hermione was dancing with Dean when she saw Draco approaching them. Dean was a bit stunned when Draco asked if he could cut in, but he handed his fiancée over to him anyway, and made his way over to dance with Luna while Harry was talking to Ron about something; most likely the bet. Scanning the room, Hermione saw her cousin dancing comfortably with Blaise, and she snickered. Of course Draco would choose this moment to dance with her. His best mate just took his date away. Placing one hand in Draco's, and the other on his shoulder, she allowed his hand on her waist, and they slowly began to dance together.

"Rose is different than other women," Hermione said suddenly, breaking their awkward silence. "She's complicated in her own way, but if you're patient enough, you can break through it."

"Why does it feel like you're all still trying to set us up?" Draco quirked an eyebrow. "She already shoved me away, Granger. I'm boring remember?"

Hermione chuckled, and glanced over at her cousin who was now watching them. "I heard about the baking day, which by the way thanks, we sold all of them within the first two hours. And you're anything but boring, Draco Malfoy. Rose is just confused. She tries so hard to fight everything that at the end of the day, she just shuts it all out. She reminds me of this Slytherin I used to go to school with."

"I'm not that same guy," he sighed.

"But she is," she told him. "Look Malfoy. I know my cousin. And I know how she works. She's tough, and she doesn't let anyone inside. You're new territory to her. You have a reputation for only wanting inside a girls pants, but you didn't make any move on her. She's used to having to make the first move because guys are too shy or nervous around her, and she's heard that you don't wait. She heard how you're the one making all the first moves."

"So when I didn't make any moves on her, she compared me to all the other guys," he realized. Chuckling, he shook his head. "Are you suggesting what I think you are, Granger?"

Chuckling as well, Hermione said words that she never thought would ever leave her mouth… or even enter her mind. "Bring back the Hogwarts version of Draco Malfoy."

_But would you risk some broken bones_

_Just to call this place home?_

_This could be home._

"We just have a few words to say," Ginny and Blaise stood up during dinner. Everyone was gathered in the dining room, with two extremely long tables. One was filled with the people they actually wanted to sit by, and the other was filled with people they were forced to invite. Aunt Muriel was on the other table. Draco sat next to Blaise at one side of the head, while Rose sat next to Ginny on the other side of the head of the table. "First of all, thank you for being a part of this engagement," Ginny beamed, turning as red as her hair at the mention of her engagement.

Chuckling at his future bride's sudden shyness, Blaise continued for her. "All of you are very important in mine and Ginny's lives, and although we grew up in a world where we were taught to hate each other because of our houses or our names, we couldn't be any happier merging the two together."

"Hear, hear!" shouted both Fred and George while their own wives playfully shoved them to shut them up.

Rolling her eyes, Ginny picked up the speech now, "Back at Hogwarts, I never imagined that a sight such as this one would ever be possible; a Gryffindor marrying a Slytherin; a Weasley and a Zabini in love, and all of our friends and family sitting so comfortably amongst each other."

"Speak for yourself," Theodore Nott shouted, "You're not sitting next to Cho."

"Oh shut up, Theo," Cho rolled her eyes, before playfully punching her husband to shut up. Looking up at Ginny, she smiled, "Go on, Gin."

Laughing, Ginny wiped away her tears of joy, "Or that Theodore Nott would have married Cho Chang. Congratulations on your pregnancy by the way, you two."

Laughing as his two friends blushed while the entire room went into an uproar of cheers, and applause, Blaise spoke up again this time. "So aside from thanking all of you for supporting us in our love; the best man, and matron of honor are both going to be revealed. They also both prepared a speech as well for tonight."

Everyone looked around the table in awe. They were waiting for this moment. There were rumors that Draco was the best man, but most people didn't believe it. Ginny had six brothers, and once dated Harry Potter. They were sure that she would have chosen one of them. Then there were the questions of who Ginny would choose. She was the best friend of Hermione, but also the sister-in-law to Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson, and Lavender Brown. Not to mention, she's always with Pansy nowadays. They were all waiting to see who would stand up first. Eruptions of cheers, laughter, whistles, and claps were sounded throughout the entire Zabini manor when Draco stood up.

"Cheers for the ferret," Ron held up his glass in a friendly manner. In all honesty, none of the Weasley brothers were hurt that Ginny allowed Blaise to choose Draco. They expected it, and they were just glad they wouldn't have to be a part of their baby sister's wedding.

Laughing along with the rest of their guests, Draco lifted his glass as they toasted to him being a ferret. His eyes landed on Rose's, and he saw an amused smirk on her face. "Well there isn't much for me to say," he ended up announcing. "I've known Blaise since we were in nappies, and he's my best mate," there was some applause, "And I'm just happy for him. I remember in our sixth year when he came running up to me after one of his slug club meetings," Ginny saw her soon to be husband try to hide his face while Pansy began to make whooping sounds. Chuckling, Draco nodded his head towards the confused bride to be. "He just ran right up to me, and started rambling on about things that made no sense to me. I couldn't understand him because he was just on rambling on-"

"Kind of like how you are now, Draco," Blaise groaned. This was embarrassing. He never told Ginny about how he's loved her since the very first slug meeting.

Smirking, Draco grinned again. "When I finally got him to calm down, he told me of how he sat next to the most amazing witch of our age in the club," Ginny gasped. She was sitting next to him. "See unlike the rest of us, Blaise never truly believed that Granger was the brightest-witch-of-our-age… no our Italian Slytherin always admired the wand work of the very cinnamon haired," he saw Rose's eyes perk up at his description of Ginny's hair, "Witch that he is engaged to today."

There was more applause, and Ginny mouthed the words, "I love you so much," to the blushing Blaise.

"I'm proud of the man that Blaise turned out to be, and I know that I owe it all to you, Ginny. So let us raise our glasses in honor of my brother and my new sister. And let us wish Ginny the best of luck as she moves on with the wizarding world's biggest prat."

"I thought she was marrying Blaise," shouted Pansy. "Not you, Draco."

There was more laughter before it soon died down. Draco sat, and everyone waited for the matron of honor to stand up. Champagne flew out of Draco's mouth when he saw her stand up. "I didn't know Ginny or Blaise very much," Rose announced. "I met them only a week after the war and I felt an instant connection with Blaise," she admitted. Draco looked over at Ginny and saw a smug grin on her face. "I was the muggle cousin of Hermione Granger who was new to the wizarding world, and he was the Slytherin dating Ginny Weasley. Along with forming a bond with Pansy, I felt a place with Blaise. We were the two outcasts of the group, and he accepted me into their little clique."

"He was just trying to get in your pants," Charlie shouted with a teasing laughter.

Laughing when Ginny slapped her older brother's head, Rose continued. "Blaise has been my best friend for four years now, and well Ginny's put up with me," laughter erupted again. "But if there's anything that I learned from the two of them, it's that names don't matter. I watched as people went against them for dating, and I saw how it only made them stronger, and brought them closer together as a couple. They act as if they can read each other's minds, and they speak as if they're one. I had the pleasure to watch them experience new things as a new and unaccepted couple in the beginning, and grow into the sappy engaged couple they are today. So let's raise our glasses in honor of Ginny and Blaise proving to the rest of the world that their love truly can defeat any war."

_Maybe I'm down low._

_Maybe I'm up high._

_Maybe I'm losing my own mind._

_You know that there are no other two hearts closer than ours._

_Maybe you'll follow._

_Maybe you'll stay._

_I'm praying you won't give yourself away._

_You know that you are the only I promise the stars._

_You are…_

Now was the only time he could do it. He had enough champagne inside of him to give him the strength, and he was sick of watching her be passed around to nearly every male in the room. It was also the sickening wink from the twins that helped him to make his decision. Oblivious to the smirking glances from every Weasley male in the room, along with Harry, Dean, Seamus, Blaise and Pansy towards Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Lavender, Katie and Angelina, Draco approached them. Tapping Remus Lupin on the shoulder, he asked if he could cut in, and dance with Rose. Instead of standing there and dancing with her though… he grabbed her hand and began to pull her away. He expected her to pull away from him, but instead he felt her sigh against his hand. Hermione's words were strong in his mind; _bring back the Hogwarts version of Draco Malfoy_. And that was exactly what he planned on doing.

_I want you my only lover._

_And I want you my only lover._

"Draco?" Rose asked suddenly. She's been over the Zabini manor enough times to know he was leading her towards one of the more secluded bedrooms. "Why are we going to one of the rooms?"

He was silent, he wasn't answering her. She had never been more turned on in her life. She didn't want to do this though. Well she did, but she didn't, she knew how this ended. She didn't want to be the one who got hurt, and she didn't want to hurt him either. But it was inevitable; one of them was bound to get hurt from this game of cat and mouse. The chase is always fun, and a little tense. But once the cat gets the mouse, it all ends.

_Maybe I'm down low._

_Maybe I'm up high._

_Maybe I'm losing my own mind._

_You know that there are no other two hearts closer than ours._

_Maybe you'll follow._

_Maybe you'll stay._

_I'm praying you won't give yourself away._

_You know that you are the only I promise the stars._

Shutting the door behind them, Draco didn't bother to lock or silence it. He knew that they were far enough from the party so that nobody would be able to hear them. In a sense though, he wanted them to be heard. He wanted to brand her as his. After tonight, he would make sure that nobody else got to her aside from him. Rose grunted as her back was slammed against the door. Heated hands pressed against her thighs, and her hands became entangled in hair; such silky smooth hair. Now she understood why he was always running his fingers through it. If she had hair as soft as that, she would always tug at it too.

Draco released a moan as his tongue connected with hers. She tasted of muggle whiskey and strawberry champagne. Claiming her mouth as his property, he tried to drink up her taste. He felt her pull roughly on his hair, which caused him to press against her. A whimper escaped her lips and fell into his mouth, causing him to grin. Separating her legs with his knees, he pressed against her. She responded with a sudden gasp. Soon teeth were tugging at his bottom lip, and it caught him off guard. How lucky could he get? She liked it rough.

"Draco," she moaned against his mouth. She needed to leave now. She needed to leave before they did something they both regretted. But his hands felt so good against the fabric on her thighs. His knee worked magic between her legs, and she felt it; the connection she had been trying so hard to ignore.

Feeling her tug roughly at the tie around his neck, Draco fell against her, smashing her more against the door. She responded with a loud grunt, and he responded by chuckling. "Yes, love?"

_Maybe I'm down low._

_Maybe I'm up high._

_Maybe I'm losing my own mind._

_You know that there are no other two hearts closer than ours._

_Maybe you'll follow._

_Maybe you'll stay._

_I'm praying you won't give yourself away._

_You know that you are the only I promise the stars._

Love? He called her love? Her mind told her to leave now. Her mind was shouting at her. Her heart was pumping with confusion, and her feet were too weak to run. He deepened their kiss, taking control of her tongue's movement, and she allowed him to. She wasn't strong enough to take over her own actions anyway. She tried to think, but it was pointless. He tasted like strawberry champagne and ice cream. Licking at his bottom lip, she tugged on his tie once more. This time, he responded by wrapping her leg around his thigh, and lifting her up. This time when she pulled roughly on his hair, he responded by nibbling at her throat. This time when she whispered his name, he responded with an erotic sound.

This is why she called him boring on that first night. This is what she wanted when he walked her home, but this isn't what he gave to her. Supporting her with both of his hands, his eyes rolled upwards to see her head tilted back at his administrations on her neck. Her hands refused to leave his hair, and he figured out her weakness – she had a thing for hair. Smirking against her throat, he sucked away at it, trying his hardest to leave behind a mark. His mark. She wanted a man who would take control of the situation. She was attracted to the prick version of himself from Hogwarts, then he would give her what she wanted. He would drop to his knees and give her everything she ever wanted.

Rose's mind was filled with static. There were no longer any coherent thoughts in her mind. One of his hands left her thigh, but she was too focused on the teeth grazing her neck to pay any attention to it. Slowly, she could feel the heated touch leaving a trail up her inner thighs, but right now his tongue was licking away at her neck, and she was in ecstasy. Gasping as she felt the faint feeling of one finger brushing against the yellow laced fabric between her legs, she felt Draco shudder along with her. She was a shaver, and he hadn't been expecting that. She was soaking wet; dripping down her legs, and now he knew the effect he had on her. She could feel the bulging arousal coming from inside his trousers, but she was still too lost to do anything.

"Oh gods, Draco," she purred his name, as his finger slipped past her knickers and entered her. Suddenly words were able to be formed, and she cursed at herself. She was enjoying this though. "Draco," he pumped into her then pulled out, using just one finger to satisfy her needs. She writhed against him. "Draco."

"Mmm Rose," he purred against her throat. She was so wet, and so tight against just his one finger, and he wondered how she would feel with him inside of her. The thought alone was beginning to harden him to the point of pain.

"Draco," feeling the involuntary bucking of her hips, trying to push him to go further, and to add in another finger, she sighed. "Stop."

His finger stopped moving instantly. His eyes fluttered open, and he stared at her. Her face was flushed with her heat, and her eyes were half lidded. With her mouth hanging halfway open, Draco saw her struggling with her decision. She wanted this as much as he did. She was enjoying all of this. So why the bloody hell did she end it? He pulled his finger out now, but kept their positions. Her hands were still in his hair, and her eyes were hungrily gazing at him, as if wishing he had never stopped. The old him wouldn't have. The Hogwarts version of himself would have continued what he was doing. Hell, the Draco from the night before he met this woman, would have kept on continuing what he was doing. He stopped for her. Because this was her. He stopped because she told him to.

"I-I," biting on her lower lip, Rose tried her hardest not to make any erotic moans right now. Her body was screaming for a release, and she was refusing it what it craved. "I want it to be different," she told him.

Any other male would have carried her over to the bed, but he knew what she meant. She didn't want just a different location. She wanted something more. "You're tired of waking up alone," he nodded his head, to show that he understood what she meant.

"Aren't you?"

"Yes," he nodded his head again. "I thought it would be different with-"

"Don't," she shook her head. "Please, put me down."

Sighing, Draco did as she told him. Helping her to catch her balance on her feet, Draco watched as she opened the door. "I," she sighed. "I can't be alone with you Draco. It isn't safe for either one of us."

_Maybe I'm down low._

_Maybe I'm up high._

_Maybe I'm losing my own mind._

_You know that there are no other two hearts closer than ours._

_Maybe you'll follow._

_Maybe you'll stay._

_I'm praying you won't give yourself away._

_You know that you are the only one I promise the stars._

_You are!_

**Disclaimer: Song- Promise The Stars! Artist- We The Kings!**

**You guys hate me now don't you ): I warned you… I went over the entire story and I'm debating on whether or not putting in either an epilogue or a filler chapter right before the final one. I feel like its missing something, but either way I promise you guys the final chapter shall be posted up by next week Sunday! Are you guys excited? I know I am(: **


	7. Scared

**A/N: I know I only posted a chapter up a couple of hours ago, but after reading the reviews from **_**ViperDiva**_** and **_**23Nelly**_**, I realized that I made it seem like there's only one chapter left, and then it made me all guilty like… what I meant was that the entire story should be posted up next Sunday(: but because I was feeling all guilty about making you guys think there's only one chapter left and whatnot, and also because I'm extremely giddy about this story, and I'm excited and loving all of your reviews, I'm posting up another chapter… I don't know what's wrong with me, I'm in just such a giddy mood and I haven't slept in literally 30 hours! Soo… yayy… I'm hoping you guys love this one(:**

Scared

Standing in their little makeshift group once more, they watched as Rose ran out from where they knew the hidden guestrooms were. Holding her dress up to make sure she wouldn't trip and fall, she sent a death glare their way, causing them all to take sudden steps back; all of the males were hiding behind their significant others. Quietly releasing sighs of relief when she turned away from them, they continued to watch as she approached the nearest witch closest to her. After what seemed like a quick conversation, Blaise's cousin nodded her head then led Rose over to the fireplace. Just as the flames turned green, they all saw Draco run out as well. Sending an equally frightening death glare their way, Draco also disappeared into the floo. A couple of seconds later, Blaise's cousin returned back to the party, returning to her husband as if she hadn't just escorted the muggle home.

"Well," Ginny said, finishing her glass in one sip, "Whose turn is it to talk to them now?"

"I already did," came the quick replies of Dean, Hermione, Seamus and Pansy.

"You didn't talk to Malfoy," Dean scowled at his best friend. "And you didn't talk to Rose either. All you did was escort her here."

Shrugging his shoulders, he took Pansy's hand into his. "I can't leave me beautiful girlfriend all alone at an engagement party now can I?"

"I'm not doing it," Harry quickly shook his head. "I call the next time though."

Lavender rolled her eyes, "If you're willing to talk to her next time, why can't you do it now?"

"Because she looks ready to hex someone."

"She's a muggle," Hermione frowned. "My cousin doesn't have any magic in her."

Shaking his head, Harry tightened his hold on Luna's hand, causing her to slightly wince in pain. Casting an apologetic look at her, he turned back to Hermione, "I'm not chancing it. You were just a muggle once to."

"Oh honestly," Lavender growled. "You guys are pathetic. I'll take her tonight, but one of you guys has to talk to Malfoy."

"Nope," Ron shook his head, smirking as he kissed his naïve fiancée's lips. "When you talk to one, you have to talk to both. Pansy did it, Dean did it, Ginny and Blaise did it, and even Hermione did it."

Scowling, she pulled out of his arms, "Fine, but you're sleeping on the couch tonight."

_It was around eleven thirty when I realized that I missed you._

_Sitting at home, all alone thinking what did I just do._

_Feeling was strong, coming on and I knew I wanted you._

_Something inside held me back, boy you got me scared of you._

Roughly scrubbing herself to the point that her scrubber was starting to tear, Rose released a frustrated scream. She had no doubt that it was nearly midnight, and she was annoyed. Every part of her wanted to just return back to the party, and finish what Draco started, but she couldn't do it. She just couldn't; this was all still so new to her. Hearing the fireplace, she growled. Wishing she were a witch, so she could hex whoever came to ruin her misery, she flew the shower curtain open when she heard the footsteps enter the loo. Still dressed in her the thigh lengthened red dress, Lavender stood in the doorway, staring at the nude girl.

"Merlin, Rose," Lavender sighed. "Honestly, I thought you knew enough about makeup to know that you never enter the shower until you've used the proper measurements to clean it all off.

Squinting her eyes in what she hoped would cause Lavender to burst into flames; Rose shut the curtain once more. "Go away Lavender."

"I came to make sure you were alright," Lavender sighed, walking over to the loo's mirror. "You left in quite a huff."

Watching Lavender's silhouette through the sea green colored curtain, Rose watched as the witch began to play with her curls in the mirror. "I didn't want to stay."

Sniffing the honeysuckle scent that now took over the loo, Lavender opened the sinks mirror to take out the makeup remover. She realized Rose would take a while in the shower. "What happened?"

"Malfoy happened," she hissed.

"Malfoy?" splashing some of the muggle liquid onto a cotton ball, Lavender pressed it to her eyes, "Since when was he just Malfoy?"

"Around the same time I realized that Salem had a point back in the sixteen hundreds when they burned you all at the stakes."

"Aren't you being just a little melodramatic?" Lavender rolled her eyes, continuing to clean her face of all its makeup.

"No," washing her hair, Rose shuddered as an unknown feeling passed through her. She had the strong urge to just start crying; almost as strongly as she wanted to just run to Draco.

"You wanna talk about it?"

_Got me afraid to let my love go._

_Is it my heart that I should follow?_

_Got me afraid to let myself go?_

_Got me scared of you…_

Honeysuckle filled the loo, mixing in with the scents of the muggle makeup remover chemicals, and the strawberry scented soaps. Lavender was now sitting on the toilet seat, playing with her nails, while Rose tried to spend as much time in the shower as she could. She didn't want Lavender to see the truth on her face. Somewhere between running away from Draco, and scalding herself in the shower, she realized what was wrong. She now understood why she was avoiding him as much as possible. She didn't dare mention the word; because it was so hard to believe it, but somehow she just knew it… she just knew what was wrong with her. She was scared of him. She was terrified that he was going to hurt her, terrified that he would abandon her like she's abandoned so many men before him.

She knew that in the beginning. In the beginning, she knew he would leave her; that was why she was looking forward to one night with him. Then over the weeks, she started to fear rejection. For once in her life she didn't want to wake up alone. She didn't want to be the forgotten name. But now… now she realized that wasn't what she was really running from. It wasn't that she didn't want to wake up alone, the thought of waking up without _Draco_ by her side… well that – that scared the hell out of her.

"Lavender?"

Continuing to file her nails with the transfigured toothpaste tube, Lavender looked over at the open shower curtain. Rose was standing there, completely nude; dripping wet. Her face looked defeated while her eyes looked… broken almost. "Yes?" she asked, confused at the sight in front of her.

Ignoring the fact that she was completely nude, and water from her body was dripping onto her somewhat friend, she reached over her for a towel. "I don't want to sound like a bitch, but can you just leave?"

Using her wand to remove all the water drops that landed on her, Lavender raised a curious eyebrow. "I've been in this loo, listening to the silence of the showers water for nearly an hour, and only_ now_ you want me to leave?"

"I thought you would've gotten the hint when I didn't answer any of your questions. Please, Lavender. I'm just really tired, and I want to go to sleep already."

Sighing, Lavender stood up. "Very well. Goodnight Rose."

"Night."

_Got me afraid to let my love go._

_Is it my heart that I should follow?_

_Got me afraid to let myself go?_

_Got me scared of you…_

"Wake up, Mister Grumpy!"

Sensing the sunlight poke through his shut eyelids, Draco reached for a pillow and pressed it over his face. "Go away," he muttered through the pillow.

"I didn't quite understand that."

"I said to-" then it struck him. He didn't recognize the voice. Feeling for his wand, he quickly sat up, pointing it at the intruder who was now standing in his bedroom. Blinking a couple of times, he rubbed his eyes. Standing at the foot of his bed, wearing nothing but a tiny pink skirt, and an even tinier white blouse was Lavender Brown. "What the hell, Brown?"

Rolling her eyes, Lavender reached over, and yanked his wand right out of his hand. "Wake up, Malfoy," she said in an all too cheery voice. "We have plans today."

"I'm not doing anything with you," he groaned, ignoring the fact that she now had his wand. Rolling back over onto his stomach, he pulled the comforter over his head. "Go bother Weasley or something. Isn't he your lackey?"

"Fiancée," Lavender corrected him, smirking at the sight in front of her. When she was back at Hogwarts, she would have given her virginity to Filch if it meant that she would one day get to witness this beautiful sight in front of her. But now, the thought caused her to shudder and swallow back the puke. This sight seemed mediocre to her now, making her grin like a lovesick fool. Somewhere along the way, she fell madly in love with Ron, making even the half-naked sight of Draco Malfoy wrapped up in sheets and pillows mean nothing to her. "And he's currently in muggle London at the moment. And you need to wake up."

"I need to sleep," Draco corrected her. "I drank a lot last night, and now I'm just really tired. Go away."

"I'm not leaving, until you're with me. Now we have an appointment at ten, Malfoy, and I will drag you there in just your boxers if I have to."

"How did you even get in here?" he asked, rolling onto his back, but not sitting up just yet. She seemed more evil than he remembered. Back in school, she was always just a slag, but now she was evil.

"The front door," she stated as if it were the most obvious answer ever. "Now get your arse up. Do not make me have to drag you into the shower. Because I will."

Muttering under his breath, Draco finally rolled out of the comfort of his bed. "Damn Gryffindors – breaking into my home, bossing me around, and threatening me."

"I'll wait in here," Lavender smugly shouted at him, as he slammed the loo's door shut, separating them.

_If I let go, I don't know if my heart will remain strong_

_Cause you're the type that just might give right and get me strong._

_I couldn't be just a girl that you're seeing once a month._

_Cause if it goes down, you better believe I'm gonna be your only one._

"Wake up, Sunshine!"

Groaning at the annoyingly cheery voice above her head, Rose smashed the pillow over her face. "Go away Ron, I just fell asleep."

"That's not my problem," he replied, still sounding as if he were grinning. "You left the party at eleven thirty last night, and Lavender said that you kicked her out so you could sleep. So wake up."

"Go away!" it was true, she did kick Lavender out so she could sleep, but it never happened. After Lavender left, she laid down in her bed, and tried to sleep, but it never came. All she could think about was Draco and his bloody fingers. They were just magical fingers. All night, she remembered how talented they were, and how magnificent they felt roaming every inch of her body. The reminder of the way his lips brushed against her skin caused her to blush.

"Awe, Harry," Ron's voice entered into her thoughts, causing her to cringe, "She's blushing. Do you think she's thinking about Malfoy?"

_Great_… she thought. Not only is Ron here to ruin her morning, but Harry decided to join in on the fun as well. "Go away guys," she grumbled, "I have to be in the office at nine."

"Luckily we're here then," Harry chuckled from the edge of the bed. "It's eight thirty."

"WHAT!" jumping up, she remembered that she didn't dress after her shower, and looked down. Sure enough, she was still nude; standing in front of Ron and Harry. Reaching over to grab her blanket, she covered her body and looked up at them. It seemed like they didn't even notice she wasn't wearing anything. "What do you guys want?"

"To talk," they both shrugged their shoulders.

Growling, she stalked out of her room, and towards the loo, her blanket still wrapped around her. "You have a couple of minutes."

"What happened last night?" it was Harry who asked the question. "You and Malfoy seemed to be doing fine. Then suddenly you ran out without even saying goodbye. He left as soon as you did."

Brushing her teeth, Rose looked up at them. "He did?" she figured that he would have stayed around, hoping to get lucky with one of the drunken witches. She did leave him in a rather aroused state.

"Yeah," Ron raised his eyebrow when he saw the glimpse of hope in Rose's eyes. "So are you going to tell us what happened?"

She sighed. Turning away from them and gazing into the mirror, Rose saw that she had raccoon eyes, and silently cursed Lavender. This was all her bloody fault. Continuing to brush her teeth, she asked herself the same thing. What did happen? One minute she was enjoying everything that Draco was doing to her, but that was it. She was enjoying it. A little too much. He had her weak in the knees the moment his lips met hers. She didn't want to fall in love with his techniques only to never experience it again. Just remembering the little bits that did happen made her core heat up. She wanted him again, and not just one time either. She wanted him for a decent amount of time. And only him. She didn't want any other guy… only him. And that's what happened. She saw Harry and Ron stir in the mirror at the sight of the glistening tears. She wanted only Draco Malfoy, but he wanted other girls.

"Can you fix my makeup?" she asked once her mouth was rinsed out.

"Erm…" Harry looked at Ron who shrugged his shoulders. "I-I don't know how to do makeup spells."

"No," shaking her head slowly, she led them back to her bedroom. "A simple cleaning spell will do. I don't feel like wearing any makeup today. There isn't enough time anyway."

"Oh," stepping forward, Harry pointed his wand at her, and said, _"Scourgify!"_

"Thanks," turning her back on them, she began to dig through her drawers, "Now turn around, both of you. I need to get dressed."

Ron and Harry both quickly obliged, and waited until they heard her scuffling around behind them. "So are you going to tell us what happened?" they asked.

"I don't know," she admitted. "You guys can turn around now. I'm somewhat dressed."

Turning back around, they saw that she was wearing a plain black pencil skirt that reached just above her knees; the slit reaching her thigh. She was only in a plain black padded bra, digging through her closet for a blouse to wear. "What do you mean you don't know?"

Searching for a blouse, Rose shrugged her shoulders, "I mean I don't know. One minute we were snogging. Then the next, he was kissing my neck," she paused suddenly and ran across to look at the mirror on her vanity. "Bastard," she hissed. "Can one of you guys do something about this?"

"I was wondering when you would notice it," Ron smirked, "Lavender told me about it when she came home last night."

"I had other things on my mind," she glared, "Can you just hide it please?"

Harry and Ron both shared smug looks then turned to her. "No."

_Got me afraid to let my love go._

_Is it my heart that I should follow?_

_Got me afraid to let myself go?_

_Got me scared of you…_

"Whoa!"

Entering the waiting room, Rose quickly turned around to where her receptionist was already seated. "What is it Jenna?" when she saw the older girl's dark blue eyes gazing at her throat, she released a sneer.

"That's some hickey you got on you, Miss Granger."

Rose scowled at her the older girl's name for her. She understood that it was professional, but it was rather annoying. Jenna was older than her by four years. So being called, 'Miss' by someone older than her did tend to get on her nerves. "I don't want to talk about it."

Hiding a snicker behind her hand, Jenna nodded her head, "Of course, Miss Granger."

"Jenna," she groaned. "We've had this conversation before. Could you please call me, Rose? Lord knows, you've slept at my flat enough times to be on a first names basis."

"I know," she chuckled. "But it's fun watching your eyes darken every time I refer to you as 'Miss Granger,' Miss Granger."

Releasing a silent growl, Rose opened the door leading from her waiting room and into her own private office. "Jenna," she turned around, "Do you happen to have any makeup on you? Blush or something? Anything to hide this?"

"Sorry," Jen shook her head, bleached blonde strands flying all around her face as she did so. "I don't have anything on me."

Sitting at her desk, Rose began to doodle with her notebook and a pen. She had only a couple of minutes until her first appointment of the day came in, and she just wanted to get it all over with. After Ron and Harry refused to hide her hickey, she had to practically threaten them just to make them agree to apparate her to her job's building, just so she wouldn't be late. They seemed to be more intent on watching her fumble about, trying to get her heels on while butting up the light green colored blouse she decided to wear. Her hair wasn't brushed, but instead just tied into a tight bun, and she prayed that none of her clients noticed it. Instead of helping her like friends are supposed to do, they thought it would be more fun on harassing her about the night before. She wrote herself a tiny note; reminding her to tell Luna and Lavender to cut them off from sex for a week as a punishment, seeing as how cruel they've been to her this morning.

"Miss Granger," Jenna knocked on the door, slightly opening it. "Your ten o'clock appointment is here. And let me warn you," she grinned, fanning her face with her hand, "He is bloody hot. If you've ever had any school girl fantasies of shagging one of your clients, he is definitely the one to start with."

"Jenna," Rose gasped with a dropped jaw. She knew that Jenna liked to be naughty and say things that often shouldn't be said, but this was just ridiculous.

Not looking a bit embarrassed at her statement, Jenna grinned even wider with a wink this time, "Well there's nothing against the law about a receptionist hooking up with a client."

"Jenna," Rose shook her head, rubbing her forehead. "Just let him in," this was going to be a long day, and it didn't even start yet.

Chuckling, Jenna nodded his head, "Yes, Miss Granger," ducking out of the room before she could be yelled at, she loudly said, "You can just enter through that door right there, Mr. Malfoy."

_Got me afraid to let my love go._

_Is it my heart that I should follow?_

_Got me afraid to let myself go?_

_Got me scared of you…_

Squeezing the pen in her hand until her knuckles turned white, Rose saw a glimpse of Lavender's curls disappear behind the smirking Jenna. It was the last thing she saw before the door of her office was shut, leaving her alone with the one person she tried her hardest to never see again, standing there in black dress slacks and a wrinkled white oxford shirt. Rose found herself frowning when she saw that he wasn't wearing a tie this morning. His ties were something that she was becoming highly attracted to. She saw his cheeks become a tinged pink when he looked down at her. He seemed to be almost as shocked as she was. No doubt, this was another attempt at a botched set up. His eyes landed on the mark he gave her the night before, and a smirk sketched itself onto his face, causing her to glare at him. She was definitely taking a lesson from Miss Jameson, and killing off the world.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him, finally.

Shaking his head, Draco sat on the couch, closest to the door. He didn't feel like being too close to her so soon. Not when the memories of last night were still so fresh in his mind. "I don't know," he admitted. "I was sleeping, when suddenly Brown came into my room and woke me up. She threatened me, and the next thing I know, I'm waiting for an appointment to meet with you."

"Well I am a therapist," she snorted. "Maybe Lavender felt that you needed some professional help?"

"So, what?" he looked up at her, smirking while running both of his hands through his hair. He didn't catch the way Rose's entire body shuddered at his action. "Is this the part where I tell you I had a troublesome childhood?"

"My past clients find that's what usually helps," Rose smirked back.

Merlin, help him. She wasn't the type to back down, and he found himself being magnetically drawn to her witty retorts. "Well sorry, love," he shook his head, "I'm not the sharing type of guy."

Fighting back the rush of emotions that attacked her when Draco referred to her as 'love,' Rose took in a deep breath. "Well believe it or not Mr. Malfoy-"

"So I'm Mr. Malfoy now?" he asked, with an intrigued look on his face.

"This is my office," she reminded him. "I am a professional, and my cousin's delusional friends thought it would be funny to trap us in here for an hour. So yes, Mr. Malfoy – that is what I will refer to you as."

"Alright then, Doctor Granger," crossing his arms over his chest, Draco leaned deeper into the couch he was sitting on. "Fix me."

_Should I let it go?_

_Should I let it go?_

_No, no, no, no…_

_Should I let it go?_

_Should I let it go?_

_No, no, no, no…_

_Should I let it go?_

_Should I let it go?_

_No, no, no, no…_

_Should I let it go?_

_Should I let it go?_

_No, no, no, no…_

Reluctantly moving away from the safety of her desk, Rose picked up her notebook and pen, while quietly muttering rude obscenities to herself before walking over to the couch. Draco took in a deep breath, thinking that she was going to sit next to him, but to his dismay she didn't; she chose to sit on the couch chair in front of him instead. He watched her with curiosity. He's never been to a muggle therapist before, but he knew that they worked the same way St. Mungos head healers did. They looked into your past, and listened to all of your problems, while not judging you. They tried their hardest to make you into a better person, and fix you. Looking around the office, he saw there were shelves filled with books on psychological health problems, and frames with her degrees in it. He softy smiled when he saw that she hung up some drawings made by the muggle children for her. It was obvious that she took her job seriously. He almost felt guilty now, knowing that her idiotic friends took time away from a patient who truly did need mental help.

"Do you have anything to say?" Rose asked; no longer being comfortable in a silence around him.

Jerking his body when he heard her voice, Draco turned to her. "About what?"

"About anything," she shrugged her shoulders. "Any confessions you want to get off your chest?"

Tapping a finger to his chin, he thought about it, "Hmm, let's see… my father used to beat my mum. I picked on your cousin to the point that she punched me when we were thirteen-" he caught the proud gleam in her eyes when he mentioned the punch, "My father tried to kill Potter when we were fifteen. I became a Death Eater at sixteen and was forced to kill my headmaster, in order to protect my family. I was on the enemy's side in the war when I was only eighteen, and watched my own father kill my classmates. I became engaged, but she cheated on me with a bloody Gryffindor. I am a lawyer, but I occasionally work with Potter them, and help them catch the bad guys. Is that good enough for you?"

"I read all of that in the Daily Prophet," Rose rolled her eyes, "But if you'd rather spend your hour in silence, it's fine by me. Either way, I'm collecting my three thousand euros."

Draco gawped. "You make three thousand euros per hour?"

"Mhmm," she nodded her head, "So if you want to waste this hour, by all means, do so."

"Well then," he huffed out, feeling seemingly proud that this young muggle woman made a nice living for herself. If she were to come onto him, at least he wouldn't have to worry about her using him for his money. Granted, she still had nothing compared to him, but in the muggle world, she could manage nicely on her own. He stiffened at the thought. That was the problem, she _wasn't_ coming onto him. She _didn't_ want him. She _was_ managing nicely on her own.

Rose watched him closely. He had started to say something, but then stopped suddenly. And now she was just confused. "Well then what?"

"I do have a problem actually," quirking an eyebrow, he gave her a challenging look. He would finally be able to talk to her. And she couldn't turn him away, because he was paying three thousand muggle euros for this conversation. "A rather annoying problem, actually; really quite irking, you see."

_Got me afraid to let my love go._

_Is it my heart that I should follow?_

_Got me afraid to let myself go?_

_Got me scared of you…_

_Got me afraid to let my love go._

_Is it my heart that I should follow?_

_Got me afraid to let myself go?_

_Got me scared of you…_

Keeping her right leg crossed over her left knee, Rose looked up at the clock on her wall. They had forty five minutes left. How the hell had it only been fifteen minutes? She was sure they've been locked together for at least nearly an hour… sighing, she nodded her head at Draco; her pen ready to take notes. She prepared herself for whatever he was about to say, but her thoughts were nowhere close to what came out of his mouth.

"It all started when I was sixteen," he sighed, wiping his mouth with his hand. "You see, I was a Death Eater, right. I was expected to kill the headmaster, and there was just so much things going on around me that I was losing my mind. That was when I started my routine. The girls of Hogwarts, they were all attracted to me. Everywhere I would go, I would see the lot of them just following me around. Slowly, I started to pick at them… one by one. Hence, the Slytherin sex god was created."

It sickened her to have to listen to him confess about his sexual hunger, but she was the stupid one who pushed him into opening up. "You used sex as a stress reliever," Rose nodded her head, writing down whatever was being said out of pure habit from the job. "It became your thing; the one thing that you were in control of. Voldemort was controlling every other aspect of your life; threatening your family, telling you what to do, causing you to lose sleep at night from his demands, and lose focus in class. Sex was the one thing that he couldn't control."

Draco was taken back for a second. It seemed like she knew him inside and out, but then he remembered… this was her job. She was paid to know what triggers people and why they do whatever it is they do. "Exactly," he chuckled. "When it came to sex, I could control my pace, my thoughts, my emotions. I did it for me, and for those moments, Voldemort couldn't touch me. My father couldn't shout at me, and I didn't see my mother's pleading face. When I was shagging all those girls, I was just me. Then when it was all over, I would kick them out of my room."

"Because you were so used to being alone, that you didn't want to show any emotions," she nodded her head, although it was meant to be more of a question. "That happens when you're scared of getting hurt. You push someone away before they can even get a chance to show you that they care for you, because you don't want to chance getting hurt in the end. You shove everyone away because you're scared of one day not being alone."

Draco nodded his head. Damn, she's good. "They would all want to cuddle, but I just wanted to be rid of them. I would promise them an owl, but the next day in class, I wouldn't even remember their names. To be fair though, I did think I was going to be dead by the end of the year. I didn't want them to get too close to me, because I didn't want them mourning me when I was gone."

The pen stopped moving, and she finally looked up at him. There was an unreadable expression in his eyes. He cared about the girls feelings? He pushed them away so that they wouldn't be hurting in case he was killed? She tried to see if she could read any mockery in his eyes, but he was open for her. He was vulnerable, and she could see the pain as he thought back to his school days. He, sincerely, became cold just to prevent anyone else from getting hurt. He didn't mind hurting them by forgetting their names the next morning, because in his mind it was nothing compared to the pain they would feel at the death of a lover. There was no selfishness in his acts.

_Got me afraid to let my love go._

_Is it my heart that I should follow?_

_Got me afraid to let myself go?_

_Got me scared of you…_

_Got me afraid to let my love go._

_Is it my heart that I should follow?_

_Got me afraid to let myself go?_

_Got me scared of you…_

"I've never cheated," he continued, noticing that she was too stunned to say anything. "Cheating is one thing that I would never commit to. As much of a bastard as my father was, he never cheated on my mother. As ironic as it was, none of the Death Eaters cheated. See… among the pureblood society, we look down amongst cheaters. And that was one thing that the Death Eaters were proud of: they would kill, and torture, and some would even rape, but not one of them ever cheated."

"Until Astoria," the witch's name was bitter in her mouth, making her want to just drink an entire bottle of mouthwash for speaking it. She also noticed her heart was flittering at the mention of Draco never cheating in his life. He was a man-whore, but he never cheated. "Before she came along, you would shag everyone who batted an eye your way, and none of it meant anything to you, but once the arranged marriage came into play, you cut off all the other witches. You remained faithful."

Draco nodded his head, "And I always thought she did too. What she did to me caused even her own family to shun her. Her sister Daphne was in my year in my house, and even she turned against Astoria for cheating on me. Cheating is a bigger crime than murder in our eyes, and Astoria committed the biggest sin of all."

"So you feel like you sleep around now to fill whatever void Astoria caused when she cheated?" it was an actual question, she wanted to know the answer. No – she _needed _to know the answer.

Draco laughed at her, "I never loved Astoria. I was simply with her because of our arrangement. My mother may have been killed, and my father was in Azkaban, but I still chose to honor the arrangement. It was created the minute she was born. I wasn't promised to Daphne, because she had already been given to another boy. So they gave Astoria to me. If she left me, I wouldn't have cared, but she cheated. It broke me in a way that I didn't understand."

"You felt like the arrangement at least gave you guys some insight into each other?" she raised an eyebrow. "You were hoping that you could learn to love her, and you would stop feeling so cold. But when she cheated, she ruined every chance at you finding happiness."

Draco glanced at the clock. They didn't have much time left. Only fifteen minutes were left. "Then Blaise set me up on a blind date," he watched, waiting for her reaction to his sentiment. "With the cousin of the very muggle-born that I picked on."

_Should I let it go?_

_Should I let it go?_

_No, no, no, no…_

_Should I let it go?_

_Should I let it go?_

_No, no, no, no…_

She saw him watching her; analyzing her as if she were the client. She tried her hardest to keep her features straight, but she was now wriggling in her seat. What could he possibly have to say about her? "Something happened with her," he stated. "She's different from the girls from Hogwarts, and she's nothing like her muggle-born cousin. You see, Doctor Granger," he continued watching her reactions, waiting for her to do something. "She isn't a witch. She's just an ordinary muggle."

"Then perhaps you should forget about her, Mr. Malfoy."

He smirked. There was a warning in her tone, and she made it known that she knew he was going to talk about her as if she weren't the one he was talking to. "See, we went to this restaurant. And unlike all the other women that I took there before, she didn't stand until I pulled out the chair for her, I noticed she was about to pull it out on her own. She didn't go directly for the most expensive thing on the menu, and she didn't throw a hissy fit when I suggested a meal or when I ordered for her. See, I was raised to respect a female. As funny as it sounds, my father would always hold out the chair for my mother or order her meal. I was taught to do the same."

"Let me get this straight," Rose had to stop him at this point. "Your father would beat your mother, and trained you to become a killer, but he never cheated on her, and he raised you to be respectful towards women?"

"It's the way I was raised," Draco nodded his head. "My father didn't explain his ways, and I didn't question it. Now can I continue on about this muggle woman, Doctor Granger? I only have ten minutes left in my session."

Ten minutes? Turning to the clock, she felt a bit disappointed. She wanted to hear what he had to say, "Go on, Mr. Malfoy," she nodded her head for him to proceed.

"When I asked her a question, she had a straightforward reply. She didn't giggle or say something that she thought I wanted to hear. In actuality, it seemed like she didn't bother to care about my feelings in the process. I could tell that most of her replies were trained, but towards the end of the night she was herself. Then I walked her home," both of their hearts were beating at this point, causing them to each wonder if the other could see the imprint it was leaving against their chest. "I wanted to shag her right then and there; I wanted to take her against the door while fumbling to open it."

"What stopped you?"

"She told me she had fun. I knew what that meant; it meant that the night was over, and I wasn't about to force her to do anything."

Rose wanted to shoot herself in the mouth at his answer. She should have known. He was as experienced as she was; she should have known that he knew the double meanings behind phrases. Of course he thought that it meant the night was over. She should have known that he would have assumed she wanted him to leave. She was an idiot! "Then what happened?"

"She told me she would owl me," he snorted. "Of course, being who I am… I also knew what that meant. It meant that I was never going to hear from her again. I've used that line many times myself. The days all passed by and I heard nothing from her. I wanted to owl her myself, but I didn't want to seem too desperate to see her again. See, from our first date, I thought we hit it off quite nicely. I even asked her out again, and dropped hints that I wanted to date her again. But she obviously didn't want me."

Yes! She was an idiot. It was official; she was going to kill herself once she went home. "Did she owl you eventually?"

"Yes," he nodded his head, noting the dark gleam taking over Rose's eyes. She seemed to be struggling with something, "I went into a rage. I left my job, and Blaise had to come seek me. Apparently, she had an honest reason for not owling me. She said she wanted to go on a second date with me, but explained that she had too many things going on at the moment to owl me. Then she said how she waited for me to owl her instead, but assumed that I didn't want to see her again. Then she told me I was boring, and wished me luck on finding a second date."

"Mr. Malfoy-"

"Let me finish," he shook his head, "I don't have much time left. I planned on waiting until the engagement party of our mutual friends to speak to her again, but then I had a surprise visitor. See our friends are hell bent on seeing us end up together. Her own cousin's fiancée came to me with a proposition. He sent me to her flat to help her bake. We had fun; at least I thought we did. I had never seen anyone so beautiful in my life, and she was wearing sweats. Her hair was a mess, and she had on no makeup. She was covered in flour, and she was the prettiest thing I've ever seen in my life. We got into a baker's fight, and I've never had that much fun in my life. In that moment of time, it was just us two and I never wanted it to end. But suddenly, she got weird around me, and she kicked me out. She didn't even explain it to me."

"Mr. Malfoy-"

He interrupted her again, "I wanted to owl her after that, but I saw it in her eyes at her flat that day. She wanted to be rid of me. I didn't want to hurt myself anymore by following her around, so I agreed to stay away. I left her alone. Then last night, I saw her hanging onto my best friend's boyfriend's arm, and I wanted to kill that little Irish imp. She was mine, and I didn't like his arm around hers. She stole my breath away, and I knew in that moment… I fell in love with her. She wasn't like the other girls. She made me chase her, and chasing her is what I'm good at now."

"Mr. Malfoy-"

He couldn't hear her anymore. He was too focused on the soft pain in her eyes as he spilled out his emotions, "Before she arrived, her cousin and I were talking, and her cousin made me promise her a dance, saying that it would help me get points with her. Then I danced with her – not the cousin – but her… and I wanted to just leave with her right then. I wanted to run away, and never look back. Then my stupid best friend had to step in. I would've hexed him if it weren't _his_ engagement party that we were at. I asked her cousin to dance, and she shocked me. See, she told me a secret about this beautiful, yet troublesome muggle woman. She's used to having to be the chaser, and for once she wants to be the one who's chased. Apparently she shuts out everything, and she's hard to crack, but for once in her life she didn't want to be the one who was in control. Then my old enemy; the girl that I tormented in school, told me to bring back my old playboy self… and I did. See, this girl, Doctor Granger, she's the matron of honor, whereas I'm the best man. I asked her to dance after our speeches, but I took her into a room instead."

"What happened?" she gave up on trying to interrupt him, she just wanted to hear how this story ends already.

"We kissed," he smirked. "My knees gave in, and I had to slam her against the wall just to keep myself from falling. I marked her as my own, so other males know to keep the hell away from her. We had a passionate moment, and I was just about to make her scream when she stopped it."

"Why did she stop it?"

"I don't know," he admitted, challenging her to fill in the blanks for him. "But she told me to stay away from her. You know what I think, Doctor Granger?"

"What do you think Mr. Malfoy?"

Glancing at the clock on the wall, Draco stood up, and walked to the door. "I think she's scared of admitting she loves me as much as I've fallen in love with her," then he left.

_Should I let it go?_

_Should I let it go?_

_No, no, no, no…_

_Should I let it go?_

_Should I let it go?_

_No, no, no, no…_

**Disclaimer: Song- Scared! Artist- Ashanti!**

**So after this chapter there's guarantee, two chapters left. And possibly a filler or an epilogue(: and it should all be posted up by no later than Sunday. **


	8. Running

Running

_Tell me what you're running from, she said everything and everyone._

_Tell me what you're running from, what you're running from._

_Tell me what you're running from, because your past it can't be undone._

_Oh tell me what you're running from, what you're running from._

Luna entered the flat. She was the last one to try and talk some sense into her, and strangely, she felt good about that. She wanted to be the last one to come see Rose. In the beginning, she felt wrong about the whole situation; forcing Rose to come to the realization that she loved Draco, but in the end Luna knew this was the right thing to do. Rose was just a complicated girl who needed a couple of pushes towards the right decision. Luna smiled giddily to herself as she thought about it. Draco Malfoy was the right decision for once. She thought they were prefect for each other. Draco was the boy who never had anyone to love him. And Rose was the girl who never loved anyone before. It was a match made from their own twisted circle of friends.

_She wakes up every morning, thoughts weighing heavy on her mind._

_She's hoping today will be a better day than the ones behind._

_She's having some troubles getting going, from the fear she's paralyzed._

_She puts her face into her hands and then she cries._

It was still early in the morning so Luna had been expecting to have to wake her up, but once she entered the bedroom, she realized how wrong she was. Dressed in red and white striped pajama shorts with a black tank top, Rose was sitting in the middle of her bed, crying into her hands. Stopping at the doorway, Luna was confused. She wasn't sure if she should leave and get Hermione here, but before she could make a decision, Rose chose for her.

"Lu-Luna," she cried out. "I don't know what to do."

Deciding that the best action would now be to stay, Luna ran over to the bed, and pulled the crying girl into her arms, "About what, Rose?"

"Draco," she whined. "I'm assuming you know about Lavender them setting him up so that he was my first appointment in the morning?" Luna nodded her head, guiltily. She hated the plan, but the wrackspurts seemed to agree that it was the best thing to do in everyone's plan to get the two together. "He-he told me that he-he loves me," Rose continued crying to her friend. "And-and then he-he said that he-he knows I love-love him to."

"Well do you?"

"I-I think so," Rose admitted, pulling away from Luna and hugging her knees to her chest. "We went on one, three hour date together. And we baked for only one day. It's too early for love."

"You can't put a time limit on your heart," Luna said softly. "What else happened in your office?"

Luna sat there, listening to the crying girl explain her hour long session with Draco. Luna was furious with Lavender for setting the whole thing up. She was going to scold Harry and Ron for going along with it, but the whole thing was Lavender's idea. She was the one who just knew it would work. Well it did work… but not in a good way. At least that's not what it seemed like. So far all it did was have Draco open up to Rose and tell his side of the story in an all too rushed scenario, leaving Rose so vulnerable enough for one hour that she couldn't even think properly about her own actions. In the end, it left her sobbing in her own office, and feeling guilty. Draco admitted that he loved her, and blatantly said that he suspected her of loving him to, but then he disappeared before she could even respond to him.

"I'm going to hex Lavender," Luna said, her normally timid voice coming off a bit screechy.

Rose shook her head, "Don't, it's not her fault she's an idiot."

"Do you want me to get Hermione for you?"

She shook her head again, "Actually I do need a favor though," when Luna gave her a curious look, she wiped away her tears, "I mean you are the last one to interfere right? So far it's been Ginny, Blaise, Hermione, Dean, Pansy, Lavender, Ron, Harry, and I'm assuming Seamus's lame attempt was ditching me at the party with Draco. So you're the last one right?"

Luna softly chuckled. They were wondering how long it would take for Rose to notice what was going on around her. "Yes, I'm the last one."

"Could you just stay here?" she asked her. "Hermione and Dean are supposed to be coming over soon."

"Sure," Luna nodded her head. "Where are you going?"

_She's so tired; she closes her eyes trying to live up to a standard that the world provides._

_She's so tired; she closes her eyes trying to live up to a standard that the world provides._

"What did I tell you about knocking before you enter, you insufferable woman!"

"I wouldn't know; we've never had that talk before. But if it's going to involve horrid name callings, then I don't think I want to have that conversation with you."

Lifting his head to the familiar voice, Draco dropped his jaw. Standing in front of him was Rose. Her hair looked like a birds nest, and she was still in her pajamas. Looking down at her feet, he saw they were bare. Looking back up at her, he saw the telltale signs that she's been crying. Suddenly his heart began to ache. He hadn't meant to make her cry. Jumping out of his chair, he ran around his desk and pulled her down onto a chair. She didn't say anything as he walked across his office and grabbed a tissue box for her. She continued to sit in silence, until he took his chair across from her once more.

"Are you alright?" he asked her.

Shaking her head, Rose wiped away her tears. "I didn't mean to barge into your office all puffy eyed and in my pajamas," she assured him, "But Luna came over, and I couldn't stay home anymore."

Draco wanted to say something about making a wise decision because Luna was loony, but he thought against it. Now wasn't the time to insult her friends. "What's wrong?"

"You are!" she practically shouted at him, before slumping deeper into her chair. "You're wrong. Just everything about you is wrong. You hold out the chair for me, you order my food, you give me your jacket when I'm cold, and you stay away when I don't want you to."

"What?" he was confused. Didn't he just confess to everything yesterday?

"You have the bloody nerve waltzing into my job, and explaining yourself then leaving me before I can explain myself."

"The hour was up," he reminded her, then his face scrunched up. "Wait – are you… are you telling me that you're upset with me because I explained myself to you?"

"I'm so used to guys who sit down before I even reach the table," she started explaining to him, ignoring his scoffing noises about savages, "I'm used to having to figure out my own meals, and ordering it for myself after he orders his food. I'm used to being walked or driven home then offering_ them_ inside. Afterwards, I kick them the hell out. I don't remember their names nor do I owl or call them the next morning. I thought I hated that, but then you came along and I realized… I was fine with that. I was so set in hating my routine, that when you came along and you were so sweet, I hated it. I missed the comfort of my boring routine. With my routine, I knew what to expect."

Draco nodded his head to show that he understood what she meant. "The same way that I would use sex for comfort."

"It's what I knew," she nodded her head in agreement. "I heard your name practically all of my life because of 'Mione," she told him. "And Pansy and Blaise both told me all about you and your shagging habits. Then when I met you, I was excited. Then you had to go and switch things up on me. You weren't rude; you were polite. You didn't let me freeze; you gave me your jacket. And when you walked me home, I wasn't slammed against my door. You suggested we do that again, then you told me goodbye when I said I had fun. You were nothing like what I expected, in any sense. I was pissed the hell off. Do you have any idea how soaked I was that night? I felt like my knickers were going to chafe me."

Draco shifted uncomfortably in his seat. If he realized how wet she was that night, and how she was waiting for him to make a move, then these torturous months would have never happened. "Why didn't you just say something?"

"Just shut up and listen," she told him. "I woke up the next morning by screaming noises. My cousin thought she was pregnant and had a mental breakdown. Then Ginny came in all excited because of the engagement. Through it all though, I told them all about the night before. As boring as it was, it was exciting. As much as you disappointed me, I wanted to do it all again. I kept trying to write to you, but Hermione needed comfort, and Ginny was squealing. So I figured I'd wait until the next morning. Then one of my clients tried to off themselves. It all kept stopping me. It was a couple days in when I realized that you didn't owl me. I was kind of hurt. I thought you were pissed with me because I didn't offer you inside for a quick shag."

He wanted to punch himself. How could he have been so blind? All that time he was waiting for her, she was waiting for him. "I didn't want to seem so desperate," he groaned into his hands, now slamming his face on his desk.

"Pansy came to my office that day," Rose continued to explain her own thoughts to him, "She insisted how much we were alike, and tried to convince me to just hurry up and owl you already. She claimed that you wouldn't admit to waiting for me to owl you, just as much as I wouldn't admit that I actually liked the date. My client who came in that day is a real nutter. She wanted to off every customer who comes into her restaurant because she didn't find true love. That was when I started thinking back to our date. I didn't want to be like her. I didn't want to be like my cousin. I didn't want to expect love. Then Hermione came in, and forced me to write the letter before my next client came in. She was the one who owled it for me."

_Tell me what you're running from, she said everything and everyone._

_Tell me what you're running from, what you're running from._

_Tell me what you're running from girl, because your past it can't be undone._

_Oh tell me what you're running from, what you're running from._

"Honestly," Draco saw her blush now. The tears were all gone, and her eyes were still somewhat puffy, but he could tell that she was blushing, "I was waiting for you to owl me back. Some part of me was hoping that you would tell me that I was wrong and that you wanted me to be your second date."

Rose stopped talking when Draco banged his head directly onto the table. "Blaise told me to," he muttered against the desk, "But I told him that's not what you wanted."

She was highly annoyed. Why did they both have to be so stubborn? This could have all been avoided. "You never owled me, so even more I became convinced that you only wanted to shag me. Then you came to my flat instead of Dean that day, and you were so handsome; running around in muggle clothing, and baking with me. I knew from the start that you had no idea what you were doing, but I thought it was so cute that you were trying. Just for me. Then we got into the flour fight, and when you stayed with the eggs in your hair, I knew right then… you were different. It wasn't a setup between us, and neither of us was putting on a show. It was in that moment that I knew you were anything but boring. We wouldn't have a routine in our life, because the baking thing was something new to both of us. I've never baked with someone who wasn't family before, and you've never baked before. All I could think of was making new memories and new routines with you."

"Then why did you kick me out?" he asked. "We were both having so much fun. Why did you kick me out all of a sudden?"

"I was nervous," she shyly admitted. "I had feelings that day that I never had before. There were so many times I wanted to just take you right there in the dough, but I had to restrain myself. I'm the type of girl who forgets names, Draco. And you're the type of guy who doesn't remember a girl. I liked you and I didn't want to get hurt. I already knew that I wouldn't be able to forget your name. And because you didn't reply to me or owl me back, I knew that once I shagged you, you would forget me. I didn't want that. I kicked you out that night to stop myself from getting hurt."

"You were running away from me," Draco groaned, hearing the squeak that escaped Rose's throat once his hands met his hair. He looked up at her and saw a hungry lustful gaze in her eyes. "All those times you were running away from me were for the same reasons I was chasing you."

She nodded her head, watching his hair; noticing that his tie was loose once again. Her knickers were wet once again. It seemed to be a side effect of being around Draco. "Once again, you didn't owl me; you didn't tell me that you had fun or even ask how the bake sell went. You ignored me once more."

"I thought that's what you wanted."

"I didn't want to go to the party," she admitted to him. "I was home alone, dressed for the party, trying to get drunk. But Seamus came, and he took me. Then I saw you talking to my cousin and I got weak. I wanted you so badly, but I knew I would get hurt in the end. That's what you do; you hurt girls in the end. You take what you want from them then it's as if they've never existed. I wouldn't be able to handle being the girl who gets forgotten."

_No hope for tomorrow, no hope for today._

_No hope for anything that comes her way._

_She's so used to feeling empty inside,_

_No reasons to live, more reasons to die._

_At least that's what she feels inside,_

_Will she ever find the courage to change?_

"When we were dancing, I felt so relaxed. For a second I forgot all of my thoughts, and I forgot that you only wanted to use me. I wanted to just run away with you, but then Blaise interrupted and I wanted to kill him. While watching you dance with my cousin though, I couldn't help but smile. You seemed so carefree, like you had no problems in the world. And then you looked happy, and it made me giddy inside. I wanted to be the reason why. Then it came time for our speeches, and I heard you describe Ginny's hair as cinnamon."

Draco nodded his head, absentmindedly playing with a quill on his desk. "I saw a look in your eyes when I said that. I was curious about that."

"I describe her hair as cinnamon," Rose's chuckle was accompanied by a blush. "Everyone else says fire, but I always compare it to cinnamon. It took all my strength to not just yank you down by your tie in that very moment. Then the room…" reaching up, Rose began to roll up her hair – it was extremely hot in the office all of a sudden. "I felt emotions I've never known existed, when you kissed me. I tried to pull away but I couldn't. I was too weak to stop it. I wanted more, I needed more. Then your fingers… I-I had to stop it. I didn't want to, but if it went further, I would've woken up alone."

He nodded his head, "You told me that you didn't want to wake up alone anymore."

"I went home," she said, avoiding his eyes for this next part. "That was when I realized it. I wasn't scared of being forgotten or waking up alone in general," her voice was soft; timid, barely even a whisper, forcing Draco to lean forward to hear her. "I was scared in general. I fell in love with you somewhere along the weeks of avoiding you and being ignored by you, but I was scared of my emotions. It's not that I didn't want to wake up alone anymore. I just didn't want to wake up without you."

_She's so tired; she closes her eyes trying to live up to a standard that the world provides._

_She's so tired; she closes her eyes trying to live up to a standard that the world provides._

Quickly jumping out of his chair, Draco ran to her. Lifting her up, he sat in the warmth that she just left, and pulled her down into his lap. She was still avoiding looking into his eyes. Gently grabbing her chin, he directed her face to face him, until their lips were barely touching. He wanted to caress her, and fulfill her every fantasy from the moment she's met him, but he held it in. That was the one thing she feared; him only wanting to shag her. He could see it in her eyes; she wasn't mocking him because of what he confessed to her the day before, but this was real. She truly did fall for him. And she truly did fear it.

"What else happened?" he asked her, knowing her explanation wasn't finished just yet.

"You came into my office," she told him, "And you started talking. And you just wouldn't shut up. I kept trying to stop you, to tell you how I felt, but you wouldn't stop. You just kept going on and on, and I felt so guilty. You tried to be kind to me, but I kept pushing you away. I didn't know you fought the urge to write to me; I thought you were just being a prick. And you looked so hurt when you spoke about the party. I didn't mean to hurt you Draco, I just didn't want to get hurt myself. I thought it was all a game to you."

"And now?" he asked her. "What do you think now?"

"I hurt you," she frowned. "I ran out on you so many times. And when you left yesterday, you were right. I was scared to admit that I fell for you. I'm still scared. There's a part of me that still says you only want to shag me."

He cocked an eyebrow, "Even after I confessed my undying love for you yesterday, you still think I only want to shag you?"

"I'll hurt you," she chose to say instead. "I only kick guys out of my bed after I get what I want."

"And I kick women out of my bed once I get what I want."

"We're both stubborn."

"We both fell in love after only a three hour date."

_She's been running away so long, she's running away from home._

_Will she ever get back?_

_I don't know, no I don't know._

_You can see it in her eyes, and you can see it in her smile._

"Hermione and Dean should be at my flat already," she told him, not wanting to climb out of his lap just yet. It was a comfortable place to be.

"You're avoiding the topic," he told her. "We both fell in love, Rose. So what are we going to do about it?"

"I don't want to get hurt."

"I'm not going to hurt you," he frowned.

"You say that now. But can you promise me that once we shag, you won't leave me?"

Draco knew it was a serious matter, but he started grinning, "Does that mean there's an us?"

"It depends. Are you going to leave me once we shag? Because I'm selfish, Draco Malfoy – I decided on it last night. Once we shag, you're stuck with me. I won't be some one night stand that you get your thrills from only once."

Tightly wrapping his arms around her waist, Draco breathed in her peachy scent. "I promise you Rose, I won't leave you once we shag."

"I don't believe you."

He pulled away from her, "What? Why would I even lie about that?"

"You would lie about anything to get into my knickers."

Rolling his eyes, he shook his head, "I'm not that desperate."

"Then prove it to me," she smirked. "Let's go out on that second date."

"I thought that was obvious enough," he told her. "You're mine now, Rose Granger. The only dates you'll go on is with me. So how is that proving anything?"

"We aren't going to shag," she told him. "I'll invite you inside, and we're going to cuddle. You may even sleep over in my bed with me. But we won't shag."

He thought about what she was saying. He knew that it was meant to be a challenge for him, but did she not hear herself? He would get to fall asleep with her in his arms. How is that a challenge? "Can we at least finish what we started the other night?"

"Nope," she smirked. "No sexual acts at all. Only kissing, but no petting."

Draco nodded his head. "This will be easy."

"Actually," she smirked again, climbing out of his lap, and pulling away when he tried to pull her back. "I'm celibate again. I'm not having sex until I'm married."

That got to him. "I didn't agree to become celibate. I agreed to no sex on the second date," he pouted. "That's not fair."

Walking towards the door of the office, Rose chuckled, "That's how I feel, Draco. Once I shag you, I won't lose you, but I won't shag again until I'm married, and I know how you feel about cheating, so it seems to me like you did just agree to become celibate," this time it was her who left.

_Tell me what you're running from, she said everything and everyone._

_Tell me what you're running from, what you're running from._

_Tell me what you're running from, because your past it can't be undone._

_Oh tell me what you're running from, what you're running from._

**Disclaimer: Song- Running! Aritsit- Rebelution! What do you guys think of the song? Sorry, I just had to get at least one of my Hawaiian songs in there(:**

**So? What do you guys think? There's only one chapter left ): I'm sad that it's coming to an end, but also very very excited that you guys made it to the end! I'm still thinking of possibly an epilogue after the last chapter. I was thinking of a filler chapter, but if I put that in then I have to completely redo the last chapter so that won't work. But possibly an epilogue(:**


	9. I'll Never Break Your Heart

**A/N: I just want to thank; **_**ViperDiva, 23Nelly **_**and **_**Textcrazy **_**for the kind reviews every chapter that had me constantly wanting to update once I read your review and for sticking to this story to the very end. I hope this chapter is good enough to close this story(: also thanks to; **_**HermioneandMarcus, CassiieRose, Solar571 **_**and **_**Taffyrose**_** for your kind reviews as well! And thank you to everyone else who favorited, and alerted this story! I love every single one of you(:**

I'll Never Break Your Heart

_Baby I know you're hurting._

_Right now you feel like you could never love again._

_Now all I ask is for a chance_

_To prove that I love you._

Hearing a knocking on the door, Draco nodded his head at Blaise. Turning around, he saw both Harry and Ron standing there with annoyed looks on their faces. Hearing Blaise snort about something that he couldn't understand, he watched his best friend leave him alone with his two former enemies. Raising an eyebrow in confusion, Draco turned to them.

"Is something wrong?" he asked them.

"Apparently we didn't finish our job," Ron muttered, picking at an invisible piece of lint on his suits jacket.

"What job?"

Motioning for Draco to have a seat, Harry sat down across from him on one of the chairs in the room. "When we first heard that you were the guy that Blaise and Ginny were setting up with Rose," he began, "Ron and I threw a huge fit. It took Luna and Lavender threatening to leave us before we finally calmed down."

"Why are you telling me this?" Draco was worried.

Seeing the sweat forming on Draco's forehead, Ron shook his head, "Blimey Malfoy, we aren't here to tell you to leave her. We just came to talk."

"Oh," he let out a sigh of relief.

"See, I don't know if you noticed this or not," Harry told him. "But after a while, we began to see that the two of you were perfect together, and it helped to know that a muggle Granger was making your life such a hell," seeing Draco's annoyance at his smirk, Harry shook his head then continued, "We all came together to bring you two together. Blaise and Ginny were the ones who introduced you two and forced you on that first date."

"Then Pansy talked to her about her feelings from the first date, and went from her office to yours to talk to you as well," Ron added, counting off his fingers.

"Then Hermione was the one who forced Rose to write the letter to you, and owled it to you," Harry also counted off his fingers, "And she talked to you at Blaise and Ginny's engagement party that night."

Thinking about who else interfered, Ron grinned, "And Dean was the one who sent you over to Rose's flat to take his place in baking, then went to talk to Rose about it, but was attacked by flying knives, pots, and pans."

"And Lavender followed Rose home the night of the engagement party, and she was the one who took you to Rose's office the next morning. Luna was the one who went to Rose's the morning that Rose went to your office, and she went to your office afterwards to see how you were handling everything."

Frowning, Ron nodded his head. "Even Seamus had his part when he brought Rose to the party and left the two of you alone together. I don't think it counts, but according to everybody else, it's what made you guys dance together."

Chuckling as he listened to them, Draco scratched his hair. This all made perfect sense to him. He never noticed it before, but they were right. They all did meddle in some way that brought them here today. "And now they feel that you guys have to do your part?"

"We did our part with Rose," Harry assured him. "When Lavender went to you that morning, Ron and I went to Rose. But we didn't do anything for you."

"I tried saying that us allowing this is enough, but nobody else seems to agree with me," Ron argued.

Standing up, Harry grinned, "But we just talked to you so now our part is done. Everyone else can leave us the hell alone."

"Wait," calling for his friend to stop from leaving the room, Ron turned to Draco, "We all love her, Malfoy, and I know you love her to. I wouldn't have approved of all of this if you didn't love her, but you better make sure you don't hurt her."

Also standing up, Draco held up both of his hands as if surrendering, "I wouldn't dream of it, Weasley. Rose is my life, and I would never let any sort of harm come to her."

"To be honest," Harry shyly coughed into his hands, "I didn't think you would last this long Malfoy. When she told all of us about the terms that she told you, I didn't think you could do it."

"I didn't think _she_ could do it," Ron snorted.

Laughing a laugh that the former Gryffindors still weren't used to hearing from him, Draco turned a light shade of red. "I knew I would do it; there was no doubt in my mind that I wouldn't last."

"How?" Ron asked out of curiosity. "How did you know you would be able to give into her requirements?"

"Because you do anything for the person you love without even having to think about it."

_From the first day_

_That I saw your smiling face_

_Honey, I knew that we would be_

_Together forever._

_Ooh, when I asked you out,_

_You said no, but I found out_

_Darling, that you'd been hurt;_

_You felt that you'd never love again._

Standing in the bedroom, she stared at her reflection in the mirror. The sight staring back at her had her grinning with tears already in her eyes. It reminded her of this exact date; four years ago. With cinnamon curls reaching her slightly rounded five month baby bump, Ginny was dressed in a rose pink colored strapless gown that rested just below her thighs. The silver trimming matched the silver eye shadow and heels that she was wearing. Next to Ginny were the identical looking Hermione and Pansy. They all wore matching dresses, with their hair decorated into curls. All wearing silver makeup, and silver heels, they even all had the matching baby bumps. They were all standing behind Rose with smug looks on their faces.

"You look beautiful Rose," Hermione beamed with proud tears in her eyes.

Also crying proud tears, Pansy reached out and placed a hand on her best friend's shoulder, "And to think, Rose. Four years ago, you were arguing with us right in front of this very mirror, annoyed with us for playing dress up with you-"

"-and hating me for setting you up with this very ferret," added Ginny.

Chuckling, Rose shook her head. "Thank you guys… for helping me that night, and for helping me this day. To be honest, I never thought this day would come."

"Neither did I," Hermione softly admitted. "Growing up, you always seemed so hell bent on not falling in love, and not getting married, but I do have to admit, you kept your word."

"What word?"

"You didn't fall in love and get married a year later just to please everyone," Hermione grinned, hugging her cousin from behind. "You waited until you had your life figured out."

"Yeah," Pansy snorted, "You made Draco chase you for a couple of months before admitting you loved him, then after three years of living in a celibate relationship with you, you made him wait another celibate year after the engagement to get married."

Rolling her eyes at Pansy's words, Ginny looked at Rose's reflection. "I have to ask though… why did Draco wait three years to propose to you?"

"Because," grinning as she thought back to their first date four years before, Rose chuckled while shaking her head. "On our first date we talked about dating and marriage. I told him that I didn't want to even think about settling down until I was at least twenty five. The bastard had to be all smug about it and propose on my twenty-fifth birthday."

It all seemed like some sort of surreal dream to her right now; a dream that she prayed she never woke up from. The day she met Draco, she knew that there was something different about him. She knew that she would fall in love with him, but she never imagined he would love her back. On their first date, he asked her out again and she hesitated then through miscommunicated circumstances she turned him down. He continued trying to ask her out, and she continued trying her hardest to avoid him. Then everything changed. He realized she was scared of being hurt by him, and he took her on that second date. On their first date, he explained to her that he was waiting for that one girl to be his second date, and now… now she was more than just his second date. Now she was preparing to walk down that aisle. They've been on more than just a second date… too many to count actually, but she would never forget that second date. It was that second date that changed everything between them. Second dates were important to Draco, and on that second date, he promised her that neither of them would ever have another second date.

_I deserve a try, honey just once._

_Give me a chance and I'll prove this all wrong._

_You walked in; you were so quick to judge,_

_But honey, he's nothing like me._

"Are you ready?"

Smiling up at Dean who was holding out his arm for her, Rose smiled and nodded her head. Normally a father would be the one walking his daughter down the aisle today, but she didn't know where hers was. Her uncle offered to do take her father's place, since he loved her as a daughter, but he got called away on an unexpected business trip. Seeing as how Rose is just his niece and not an actual daughter like Hermione is, he would have lost his job if he didn't go. Who knew dentists had such trials with their jobs? "I think so."

"You think so?" taking in the nervous look on Rose's face, Dean patted her hand. "He loves you Rose. We can all see he does. I mean blimey, he's not the same prat we went to school with, and he sure as hell is a lot bloody better than all those other blokes. Do you know how hard it is for a Gryffindor to admit that Draco Malfoy is the best choice for you? We would have never approved of this if it wasn't true."

Nervously chuckling, Rose nodded her head. "Wizards don't believe in divorces do they?" she suddenly asked.

"I wouldn't know," he shrugged his shoulders, "I'm a muggle-born. And so is Hermione. And it's not as if she and I are planning on divorcing anytime soon."

"Oh god," chewing on her bottom lip, Rose began to pace in the hidden area that she and Dean were standing in. "I should've checked on that first."

"Oh honestly Rose," Dean rolled his eyes, "Are you telling me that you seriously think after your first shag, he's going to want to divorce you?" seeing the hesitant nod of Rose's head, Dean began to laugh. "He wouldn't do that to you Rose. Malfoy loves you. If all he wanted was a quick shag, he would have let you go further with him on those nights you wanted to give in; he wouldn't have kept his promise to remain celibate until your wedding day."

Taking in a deep breath, she thought about it then nodded her head. "You're right," she smiled. "I gave him the chance to leave me if he wanted to. He loves me. I can do this."

"Are you ready?"

Accepting the offered arm, Rose nodded her head, "I'm getting married today, Dean."

The music began to play.

_I'll never break your heart._

_I'll never make you cry._

_I'd rather die than live without you._

_I'll give you all of me,_

_Honey that's no lie._

Taking in a deep breath, Rose looked up. There were whispers all around her, talking of how beautiful she looked, but she ignored all of it. Her only focus was the man grinning back at her. Her eyes met his, and she leaned against Dean for support. She was making the right choice; Draco was the right choice. She heard Dean whisper something to her, but she couldn't hear what he said. Draco's gaze was mirroring hers, and she knew in that one moment that she would have married him on that first date if he asked her to.

She watched as he nodded his head at something that Blaise just told him, and she let out a whimper when one of his hands ran through his hair. Four years has been good to him. His hair grew out shaggier and rested just on his shoulders now, his eyes were softer and had a constant shine to it now, and his tie… that bloody pink-rose colored tie was mocking her. The bloody git just had to go and wear loose fitting white dress slacks with a silver oxford shirt underneath a white suit jacket. The bloody git also had to have the top buttons of his jacket undone, and keep the tie loose and practically hanging off his neck. She wanted to throw her bouquet already and force him onto her by yanking on that bloody tie.

Looking away from Draco before she made a fool of herself, Rose saw Blaise standing behind Draco with Seamus. The third groomsman was missing because he was currently walking the bride down the aisle. When they made the agreements for whom to have as bridesmaids and groomsmen, Draco allowed her to choose. He said that as long as Blaise was his best man, he didn't care who else stood by them. All he wanted was for Rose to be happy. So she gladly chose; Hermione was the matron of honor and Blaise was the best man. Seeing as how the two of them had to walk down the aisle together and Dean was missing, Seamus gladly walked his own wife and Blaise's wife down the aisle. Seeing as how the women were all wearing pink with silver trimmings, the men were wearing black tuxedos with rose-pink shirts and silver ties. The women all had a pink colored rose adorned with silver gems in the center of it, while the men had the matching flower in their jacket pocket. The rose-pink represented Rose whereas the silver represented Draco. He claimed that he wanted emerald green instead of silver, but she threatened to stab his eyes out with a knife; that way they could still marry, and he would never have to worry about colors anymore. They quickly came to an agreement after that; Draco claiming that silver's always been his favorite color, and how he never really liked green anyways.

_I'll never break your heart._

_I'll never make you cry._

_I'd rather die than live without you._

_I'll give you all of me,_

_Honey that's no lie._

Draco was looking at the ground when he heard the music start to play, but Blaise nudged him and he looked up. Feeling his heart beat at a pace that he was sure wasn't safe, he fought the urge to just throw the rings in the air, and claim her right there. He was sure that the guests wouldn't appreciate it, but then again… there were a lot of kinky people in the world nowadays. He had to shake out the image when Rose's eyes met his and his knees buckled. She was smiling up at him, and he curled his lips to smile back, but he found that he was already grinning at her. She would be his wife. The beautiful muggle woman would be his wife in only mere minutes. Somehow it didn't seem possible; like this was all a teasing dream that he would wake up from any minute now. He prayed that he stayed in this deep coma he seemed to have fallen into.

Blaise whispered something to him, and he nodded his head, but he had no idea what was just said. He was too focused on Rose. The last four years had definitely been kind to her. Although she had cut her curls over the years, they still remained long. He could tell that Pansy was the one who did her hair, and reminded himself to thank his friend for that later. Everyone knows how Rose prefers her curls over straight hair, and Draco didn't hide the fact that he would rather have her with straight hair than her curls. Today, Pansy seemed to make them both happy: tight curls hung around Rose's face with a large nest of webbed curls in the center on the top part of her hair. The bottom half of her hair was left down, and straightened to the midsection of her back. He could see the glitter glistening on the dark caramel strands. Her eyes were outlined to bring out her already cat shaped eyes, and he spotted the pink and silver eye shadow from far; reminding him of their first date. Her makeup was the exact same as their first date, and he felt giddy like a love sick school boy.

The dress was what really caught his attention. Over the years, he's come to learn that Rose prefers short but loose dresses, whereas he loves the tight but long dresses. The dressmaker seemed to have them both in mind when they designed this dress. A tiny thin silver colored strap that looked as if it were made out of diamonds wrapped around Rose's neck, and the top bubbles of her breasts popped out in a classy way. The silver fabric hugged her chest all the way to her thighs. And by hugged, he could see the outline of her navel piercing, hugged. The sides of the dress were made out of pink rose colored lacing, and he could see that the back of the dress had a long silver colored tail that went at least six feet behind her. He chuckled when he saw her feet. It looked as if Pansy got to her heels again. The silver pumps on her feet had to be at least five inches.

_As time goes by_

_You will get to know me_

_A little more better._

_Girl that's the way love goes._

_Baby, baby…_

_And I know you're afraid_

_To let your feelings show_

_And I understand_

_Girl it's time to let go…_

Clearing his throat once the bride and her escort reached the front of Malfoy Manor's yard, Kingsley smiled down at the bride and Dean. "Who gives this woman away?"

"I do," Dean beamed with pride, proud to be the one that Rose asked to replace her uncle.

"And you are?"

"I am Rose Granger's cousin-in-law, Dean Thomas."

"Thank you Mr. Thomas. You may now hand Miss Granger over to Mr. Malfoy."

Taking Rose's hand into his, Draco nodded his head at Dean, "Thank you Thomas."

"Take care of her, Malfoy," Dean simply replied before nodding his head in return, then taking his place across from Ginny, and next to Seamus.

Looking down at the hand that fit perfectly in his, Draco chuckled before Kingsley had a chance to say anything. "Your nails are green?"

Blushing, Rose nodded her head. In fact, this was her one of her surprises for him. She knew how his favorite color was green, and he did allow her to have this wedding her way, and he did remain celibate for four years just to satisfy her curiosity, so she felt she should repay him. Painting every single one of her toenails and every single one of her fingernails green may not seem like a huge thing to most people, but to her it was the only thing she could offer him. From when she was only five years old, every other toe and fingernail had to be a separate color. She now had ten emerald green toenails and ten emerald green fingernails. This was a huge sacrifice for her. "It's your favorite color," she told him in a low voice, scared of what he would say. "And since I wouldn't let you wear green, I figured I would. Do you like it?"

Grinning, Draco rubbed his thumb over her fingers. "I love it. Thank you," staring into her eyes, he could have sworn that even the darkened honey colored eyes he loved to gaze into so much, were blushing. It was then when he noticed the blue teardrop necklace she was wearing around her neck. It looked slightly out of place compared to the rose pink and silver. "Is that pendent, blue?" he asked her, "Where did you get it from?"

Chuckling at how her soon to be husband would rather start a conversation in front of everybody then allow the Minister of Magic to speak, Rose nodded her head, "The muggles have this tradition," she explained to him; "During the wedding the bride must have something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue and a silver sixpence in her shoe. It's for good luck."

"You have a sixpence in your shoe?"

"Mhmm," she nodded her head. "It's taped to the arch of the heel," then grinning, she fingered the chain around her neck. "This pendent is old, borrowed, and blue. It belonged to Hermione's great-grandmother and has been passed down from generation to generation on her mum's side. My aunt gave it to Hermione on her wedding day, and she's letting me borrow it for today."

Peeking over his soon to be wife's shoulder, Draco saw the blushing matron of honor, and he grinned, "Thanks, Hermione."

Feeling her cheeks burning, Hermione ignored the snickers from all around her, and smiled, "You're welcome, Draco."

"And the new thing?" Draco asked; interested in this good luck charm that the muggles seem to believe in. "What do you have that's new?"

Grinning, she pointed down at the heels. "Pansy brought them for me today. They're brand new."

"And they're also hurting your feet," Draco smirked. "Since this is the four year anniversary of our first date, would you like a little tradition?"

Already knowing what Draco was referring to, she nodded her head and placed both of her hands on his shoulders so she wouldn't lose her balance. "Please?"

"Hey," Pansy frowned when she saw Draco wave his wand while muttering hushed words at the heels right before Rose sunk down another three inches. "Those were expensive."

_I deserve a try, honey just once._

_Give me a chance and I'll prove this all wrong._

_You walked in; you were so quick to judge,_

_But honey, he's nothing like me._

_Darling, why can't you see?_

Kingsley watched the crowd while they watched the conversation between Draco and Rose, and he grinned. Rolling his eyes when he saw the Weasley twins exchange galleons with Harry and Ron, he wondered why on earth anyone would possibly make bets before the couple even had a chance to start their vows. He grinned when he saw Slytherins sitting in Rose's section and even a couple Gryffindors sitting in Draco's section. There were even a couple of the Order members sitting in Draco's section. Nobody thought this day would have been possible; a Malfoy marrying a muggle. After Draco shrunk Rose's heels for her, the couple looked up at Kingsley, and waited for him to begin.

"Rose and Draco came to an agreement for the wedding. There will be the traditional muggle vows, but we will also have the traditional wizarding exchange of vows between the bride and the groom," Kingsley explained to the audience. "Does anyone have a problem with this?" when no one spoke up, he nodded his head. "Are you both ready?"

"Yes!" Draco and Rose both grinned excitedly.

Kingsley began, "We are gathered here today, on this happy and joyous occasion, to join this man and woman in holy matrimony. Marriage is a solemn institution to be held in honor by all, it is the cornerstone of the family and of the community. It requires of those who undertake it a complete and unreserved giving of one's self. It is not to be entered into lightly, as marriage is a sincere and mutual commitment to love one another. This commitment symbolizes the intimate sharing of two lives and still enhances the individuality of each of you."

Continuing to hold her hands in his, Draco whispered, "I love you."

Annoyed at the fact that he had the ability to still make her blush on their wedding day, in front of hundreds of people, Rose whispered back, "I love you too."

"Should anybody here see reason on why these two should not be married?" Kingsley asked. Scanning the audience, he thought he saw one of the twins nudging the other before Molly slapped both of their heads. Chuckling, he continued, "Very well then. Now, this would be the part where either I would say the vows, or the couples would choose their own vows. Now in wizarding marriages, the Minister would be the one to say the vows, but in muggle traditions, the bride and groom could choose to say their own written vows. Both the bride and groom and have chosen for both scenarios. Draco will say his vow first."

_I'll never break your heart._

_I'll never make you cry._

_I'd rather die than live without you._

_I'll give you all of me,_

_Honey that's no lie._

Forgetting that they were surrounded by family and friends, Draco held both of Rose's hands in his and he smiled down at her. "To be honest, I didn't prepare a speech for today," seeing Rose smirk at him, he chuckled. "I know… I know. I owe you thirty galleons," there was laughter from somewhere around them. "But that doesn't mean I have nothing to say. I have quite a lot to say actually. I love you Rose. We met on this day, four years ago, and it changed my life forever. When you accepted my proposal, I allowed you to choose everything for the wedding. I didn't care where we got married, what we wore or who was there. The only thing that mattered was that it was on this day. See, this is the day that everything changed for me. It was this very day, four years ago, that I first heard your name. You were standing next to Ginny, and I was standing next to Blaise. I hated him so much for forcing me out on a blind date, and I even purposely took my time so we would be late. Then I saw you, and I knew in that moment that things were different. I took one look at you and I wanted to choke Blaise for not forcing me out of the house sooner, and slap myself for making you wait so long. Then Blaise introduced us, and you wanted to leave. Of course, being who I was, I demanded that Blaise take me home as well. It took five minutes of pleading, begging and threatening to get us to agree inside the restaurant together. Do you remember that?"

Feeling the tears already beginning to threaten her eyes, Rose smiled and nodded her head. "Every second."

"I apologized to you after we sat down," he laughed, "And you just said _okay_, and I was so upset with you. I mean I apologized and you didn't accept it nor did you apologize back. Then we started talking, and I couldn't take my eyes off you. Neither could our waiter. I wanted to hex the prat into the next oblivion, but then I saw you. You didn't even notice that our waiter was flirting with you. You didn't even notice when he slipped a napkin with his number written onto it under your plate. You were there on a date with me, and for that moment all you saw was me. It was then, in that moment, when you were explaining to me why you hate the color green that I realized I loved you. We knew each other for only one hour, but it didn't matter. I was in love with you. Then of course, there were the complications, but I call those the lost months, so they do not exist."

Chuckling from his best mate's side, Blaise winked, "It would be you to erase a couple of months because you were ignored."

"Hush up, Blaise," Ginny hissed at her husband.

Ignoring his friend's words, Draco continued. His fingers were now brushing the side of Rose's face. "I went to your office that day, and you came into mine the next. That night, we went on our second date. We held hands, and we walked on the streets. When we went back to your flat, we laid down in your bed, and you fell asleep in my arms. I stayed up that whole night, just watching you sleep," he admitted, "And I didn't understand it. How could I end up with someone so perfect in my arms? I was prepared to chase you for an eternity if I had to, but luckily I didn't have to. You thought I would crumble under your rules," he smirked at her, "But it was the easiest rules I've ever had to follow. I didn't care about any of those other things, because every night you would fall asleep in my arms, and every morning you would wake up in my arms. Nothing else mattered because through it all I still had you. I still _have _you. I knew you wanted to wait until you were at least twenty five before you even thought about marriage, so I waited with you. Granted, I proposed the second you turned twenty five, but I still waited. If you said you wanted to wait until you were thirty, then I wouldn't have minded still waiting for you. Because I know it's what you wanted. You changed me Rose, in ways that no one here today would have thought possible. Thank you… thank you for being my second date."

_I'll never break your heart._

_I'll never make you cry._

_I'd rather die than live without you._

_I'll give you all of me,_

_Honey that's no lie._

Rose was crying. She took Draco's face in her hands, and she stared into his eyes. He wiped her tears away, but it wasn't enough. She was still crying. "Bloody git," she playfully slapped him, "Making me cry in front of everybody."

Laughing, Draco winked, "I wasn't completely finished, but we don't have time for me to say everything I want to say."

Chuckling, Rose wiped her own tears away. "I hated you when I first met you," she told him. "You were hot, and I wanted you, but I hated you. There were feelings in there that I didn't know, and it scared me. I tried my best to avoid you and everything. I would go into detail, but I don't want to bring up the lost years."

"Thank you," he smirked.

Rolling her eyes, she continued. "They just wouldn't give up on bringing us together. When I asked them why, Blaise and Pansy told me that I was your match. I didn't back down when you said something rude, and I matched your wit with my own brilliant comebacks. You know how much I hate it when you pull my chair out, but you still do it every time we go out. You know how much I love the smell of sandalwood, and when you're annoyed with me you refuse to wear it. You argue with everything I have to say, and you call in sick for me on days that you want to just lay around watching movies all day. Everything you do infuriates me to no end, and you try to get me annoyed with you because you like the way that I smirk."

Grinning, Draco nodded his head, "And the way your nose scrunches up."

"See," she told him, "You can't even let me pour out my heart without interrupting me."

"I'm sorry," he said suddenly, forcing out a serious tone. "Pour away, my love."

Shaking her head, she continued, "I was nervous today. I even asked Dean if wizards believe in getting divorces right before he walked me down the aisle. I'm still so scared that one of these days you'll get what you want and you'll leave me. When I agreed to give us titles that day, I was so sure that you would leave after one month when you realized I was serious about my rules. But you stayed, so I gave you another month. Then another, and another, and soon it's been three years and you're proposing to me. The next thing I know, I'm waiting for the music to play and Dean's ready to walk me down the aisle towards you. Every night I lie in your arms, and try to force myself to stay up because I'm scared that the next time I open my eyes, you'll be gone."

"I'm not going anywhere," Draco assured her.

"Everyone tells me how much I've changed you for the better, but they're wrong. You were never for the worse. The first time you came to my flat, is the one image I'll always remember," Rose grinned. "You got eggs and flour all into your hair. And then we got into that flour fight and you're hair was all matted up. I kept waiting for you to use your wand and fix yourself up, but instead you threw flour at me. And I saw the real you that day; the you that nobody else knew existed. I didn't change you Draco, but you changed me. Because of you, I opened my heart up. I let somebody in, and I allowed myself to fall in love. You went along with my stupid rules and you stayed celibate for four years just to prove you loved me that much and that you didn't only want my body. You did something that no one else ever has; you loved me and you gave me the time to accept it. On our first date, you explained to me that you never made it to a second date. Then you asked me out on a second date and I was scared. I ran, but then I finally gave in and I'm glad I did. So thank you Draco… thank you for wanting me to be your second date."

_No way, no how._

_(I'll never break your heart; I'll never make you cry)_

_I swear_

_(Oh I, oh I, I swear)_

_No way, no how._

_(I'll never break your heart; I'll never make you cry)_

_I swear_

_(Oh I, oh I, I swear)_

Everyone in the audience was teary eyed at this moment. Even Kingsley was trying his hardest to blink away his tears. It was obvious that the couple had more things they wanted to say, but were pressing for time. They didn't want to keep everyone there while they spoke of their love for each other for hours. They had all the time in the world to do that after today. "This is the wizarding part where I say the vows for them," Kingsley explained to the crowd, before turning back to the anxious couple. "Are you both ready?"

"Yes!"

"Draco Lucius Malfoy," he turned to the groom first. "Do you take Rose Elizabeth Granger to be your lawful wedded wife? Do you promise to love her, comfort her, honor and keep her in sickness and in health, remaining faithful to her as long as you both shall live?"

"I do!"

"And Rose Elizabeth Granger," he turned to the bride, "Do you take Draco Lucius Malfoy to be your lawful wedded husband? Do you promise to love him, comfort him, honor and keep him in sickness and in health, remaining faithful to him as long as you both shall live?"

"I do!"

"Then by the power invested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

_I'll never break your heart._

_I'll never make you cry._

_I'd rather die than live without you._

_I'll give you all of me,_

_Honey that's no lie._

Grinning, Draco leaned forward and pulled his wife into his arms. He could hear the applause and cheers all around him, but he was only focused on the grinning woman in front of him. Honey met silver, and silver met honey. Pressing his curled lips against hers, he released a soft moan of approval. The pink lip gloss that she was wearing tasted like watermelon, and he definitely approved of it. Feeling the wetness of her tongue prying at his shut lips, Draco opened his mouth and like always, his knees went weak once her tongue met his. They were still smiling against each other's lips while their tongues met in a monogamous agreement. Rose's fingers found his hair, tussling it the way she loved it, while his hands ran down the curve of her back. He learned that the back of her dress is solid just like the front.

_I'll never break your heart._

_I'll never make you cry._

_I'd rather die than live without you._

_I'll give you all of me,_

_Honey that's no lie._

Pulling away from the kiss, Rose grinned, "I love you Mr. Malfoy!"

Draco grinned as well, "And I love you Mrs. Malfoy!"

_I'll never break your heart._

_I'll never make you cry._

_I'd rather die than live without you._

_I'll give you all of me,_

_Honey that's no lie._

**Disclaimer: Song- I'll Never Break Your Heart! Artist- Backstreet Boys!**

**I wasn't planning on updating this until Saturday or Sunday, but the weather over here is crazy, and the internet keeps blinking and I'm going paranoid so lucky you guys(: this is the end of this story! Waahhh… well maybe not. I'm thinking of a song for the epilogue just because I love you guys and this story that much. Well thanks for sticking with it to the end. I hope you guys like how I ended it(: and I hope you guys liked my varied song choices. To be honest, I chose the songs strictly by turning my iPod on shuffle. It somehow all ended up falling into place for me. This song wasn't chosen by that though. I asked all my friends on facebook for wedding songs, and this was the one I liked best. It matched Rose and Draco more than any other love ever could dream to!**

**I don't know when I'll update, I'm still searching for a song… but you guys will know when I do(:**


	10. I'll Make Love To You

**Okay… I finally finished it. I've been spending all these days looking for the perfect song, and I finally found it. It was on complete accident that I found this song to. I was reaching across my bed to grab my iPod, but grabbed my brothers instead and when I went to put it back my thumb brushed against the play button and this song started. I haven't heard this song in so long that I sat there and listened to it; about ten seconds into it… I knew. This was the song!(:**

**I know I usually put the disclaimer in the end, but I figured I'd put it here to give you guys a warning at the same time. I do not own Boyz 2 Men, nor do I own; **_**I'll Make Love To You**_**, but I truly wish I did, especially with Draco by my side(;**

**Warning: This little 'epilogue' is the honeymoon. Right after the wedding! So this chapter is truly why this story is rated M and it has lots of smutty goodness that would make my mom blush...**

I'll Make Love To You

_Close your eyes make a wish_

_And blow out the candlelight,_

_For tonight is your night._

_We're gonna celebrate all through the night…_

Their arms were wrapped tightly around each other. The faint sounds of love songs were singing to them, but they were too busy staring into each other's eyes. Rose had her arms wrapped around his neck while Draco claimed her waist in a hug. All around them, their friends and family were dancing as well; occasionally glancing over at the newlywed couple. Blaise and Ginny's two year old daughter; Serena was dancing off in a corner with her cousin Louis. There were fireflies lighting up the night's darkness, surrounding them all with a candle like glow.

"I love you so much," Draco stated.

Smiling up at her husband – something she never thought she would ever get used to saying – Rose nodded her head, "I know Draco. I love you too."

"Sometimes," he told her, pulling her in even closer against him until her chin was resting against his chest, but abled her to still look up at him, "I don't believe that any of this is real."

"I know what you mean," she chuckled lightly, allowing him to feel her throats vibrations, "Like one day we're going to wake up and find we've been in some deep coma for all these years."

"I've never thought it would be possible for me to be as scared as I am when I'm with you," his eyes were gazing through her, reading her emotions and sensing her thoughts. "Every second that I'm alone with you, I keep a close eye on you, scared that one day you'll open your eyes and realize you deserve better than me."

Laughing, Rose winked. "What can I say, Malfoy? My mum always told me settle for second best, because the best is always too far out of your reach."

"I never thought I would ever appreciate your mum basically giving you the worst advice ever," he smirked then started to laugh.

The group all gathered off in a close distance; watching the scene in front of them. They could tell from the glint in Rose's eyes and the smirk on Draco's face that they were teasing each other. Even on their wedding day, they just couldn't resist teasing. Blaise was holding Ginny from behind with his chin resting on her shoulder, while Seamus did the same with Pansy. Lavender and Luna were leaning against the other while their husbands stood with Dean and Hermione.

"We need to ask them," Hermione said.

Pansy shook her head, "Isn't it obvious enough? We won the bet. Draco caved first. He was the one who went into the office that morning, and spilled his heart out first."

"Not to mention he stayed celibate for four years just to prove he loved her," Blaise added in.

"No way," Ginny shook her head, disagreeing with her husband. "We won the bet. Rose chased after Draco the next morning; refusing to let him leave."

"But he wasn't going to leave her," Harry pointed out. "He was just giving her time to think about his confession. He was planning on seeing her again the next week so they could talk about it."

"Well Rose was the one who asked Draco to move in with her," Lavender pointed out.

"Draco's the one who proposed," Seamus counter argued.

"Rose accepted," Luna pointed out.

"Because she loves him; of course she accepted. The bet wasn't to see who didn't love the other one. It was to see who caved first," Ron reminded everyone.

"Did anyone find out who really made the first move that day at our engagement party," Blaise asked them. "It really all started then."

Draco and Rose were standing there, amused at what they were hearing. They knew that there were bets based on them, but they didn't imagine the bets were still going on after four years. Leaning against Draco's chest, Rose cleared her throat.

Turning to face the couple in question, Hermione was the bravest one of the group. "We need to ask you guys something."

Chuckling, Draco shook his head. "I started it," he replied.

"Pardon me?"

"We've been standing here for a minute now," Rose clarified, smirking when she saw them all turning bright shades of red. "Honestly, we thought you guys settled this bet already."

"How could you give in first, Draco?" Ginny glared at him, "Now I owe them all thirty galleons."

"Well nobody told you to bet against me," Rose said, trying to keep a straight face. "At least Pansy was smart enough to know I always get what I want in the end."

"I may have been the first one to cave in four years ago," Draco whispered in her ear, "But we're married now; tonight we finish what I started."

Shivering at the deep lust in Draco's voice, Rose smiled at her family and friends. "Well we must be going now."

"Yeah," Blaise smirked, earning an elbow from his wife, "I don't know how you managed to keep Draco celibate for four years-"

"Or how on earth you managed to not cave in yourself," Hermione added.

"-but it seems like you both have four years to make up for now," Blaise finished.

Grinning, Draco winked at all of his friends and in-laws, then said, "Close your eyes, love."

"Apparate me away, husband."

_Pour the wine, light the fire._

_Girl your wish is my command;_

_I submit to your demands._

_I will do anything, girl, you need only ask…_

Giggling as Draco lowered her to the ground, Rose automatically began to take off her heels. It was one of the first things he learned about her after a week of constantly sleeping at her flat. Her shoes were always the first thing off because she preferred her feet to be bare more than anything else. After a year of dating, and having Draco always sleeping at her flat, other than having him go home to his own place, Rose asked him to move in with her. After pleading with her to sell her flat and move in with him instead, Draco realized that this was the one thing she prided herself with. At only twenty-two years old, she managed to buy a nice place with her own money, and she refused to give it up, so he gave in and moved into muggle London with her. Honestly, he didn't care where he lived; as long as it was with her.

"What are you doing?"

Feeling the familiar dainty arms wrap around him from behind, Draco grinned as he pointed his wand at the room's fireplace and started the fire. "I'm giving the room a romantic feel to it."

"Are you trying to seduce me Mr. Malfoy?"

Turning around so that Rose was wrapped in his arms once more, Draco smirked, "Well after finding out my wife is already questioning about divorce, I'm determined to prove I can be romantic," he allowed Rose to see the teasing glint in his eyes and hear the joke in his voice, "Also, it's been four years since I've performed, I need to make sure that she'll still want me even if I don't prove…" he cleared his throat, "Adequate enough."

"Well I don't know," Rose teased back, roaming her hands along his arms, "I've gotten quite used to not having sex."

Growling, Draco picked her up in his arms, and hissed into her ears, "Tonight, I'm going to make your toes curl to the point that you can't walk for weeks. I'm going to answer your fears from that day four years ago. I'm going to love you all night and you're going to wake up in my arms."

The room was suddenly hot. Rose wanted to just rip off her wedding dress already and yank Draco down into the bed with her, but it seemed like he had other plans. Sitting on the edge of the bed where he placed her, she watched as he walked back to the fire place and poured two glasses of wine for them. Her eyes stalked him as if he were prey as he walked dangerously slow towards her. Accepting the glass of wine he was holding out to her, Rose took a long sip from it, watching as he licked the wine from the tip of his glass.

Watching her squirm in her seat, Draco grinned; "What do you want Rose?" he asked her. "You need only ask."

_I'll make love to you like you want me to_

_And I'll hold you tight baby, all through the night._

_I'll make love to you when you want me to_

_And I will not let go 'til you tell me to._

Her heart was racing and her throat was pulsating. Rose reached up and grabbed him by his tie. He really should have known by now to not wear ties around her. Tossing her glass all the way to the other side of the room Rose pulled him onto her; Draco released a grunt as his own glass crashed to the floor while he landed on her. He opened his mouth to say something, but Rose's tongue already invaded it; the taste of wine on her lips reminded him of the first kiss they shared. Bracing himself on the bed so that he didn't squash her with his weight, Draco drank her taste. Rose couldn't get enough of him. With one hand on his tie, she tried to tug on it some more while her other hand ruffled up his hair. Releasing a long moan of ecstasy when Draco began to suck on her tongue, she arched her body into his.

Draco had her in his arms at this point, his mouth removing it from hers much to her dismay, but before she could whine about that, he was gently nibbling on her chin; his long fingertips roaming down her body; feeling the lace of her wedding dress against them. "Draco," his name was nothing more than a breath stolen from her swollen lips.

Grinning against that vibrating point on her throat, Draco bit at it, making his mark for all the world to see she belonged to him, just like he did on that night four years before. This time though, she wouldn't be ashamed of it when she woke up. And this time, she wouldn't escape him. "Tell me," he told her in a seductive tone, "Tell me what you want, love."

_Girl, relax; let's go slow._

_I ain't got nowhere to go._

_I'm just gonna concentrate on you._

_Girl, are you ready?_

_It's gonna be a long night._

Rose was suffering. The past four years had been torturous enough for her, but she couldn't take this much longer. His lips were slowly nipping and sucking her neck. His fingers continued to brush against the lace of her dress; burning what little skin it touched through it. Mewling sounds were escaping her, and she was trying her hardest not to pant. She's had a lot of meaningless sex in her life, and most of them had even taken the time to slowly tease her, but this was different. And not just because it's been four years since she's last been touched like this, but because she was with Draco. This time it was Draco who was taking his time to touch her; this time it was Draco who was slowly touching her to brink of insanity.

"Relax, love," he chuckled, pulling away when he felt Rose trying to grind her hips against his thigh. "We have all night."

"No," she shook her head; her voice thick with desire and her eyes darkened with lust. "No time. I want you now, Draco."

"You have me," he assured her; allowing himself to be dragged down by his tie once more. He knew it was a good idea to wear it so loosely for the wedding. Blaise had tried to get him to wear it properly, but he knew what his ties did to Rose; how it aroused her to the point where she was pulling him into the nearest closet for a quick snog. His hair and his tie: those were the two things that made her weak in her knees.

Tracing Draco's lips with her tongue, Rose started unbuttoning his shirt. "But I want you right now."

"You have me all night, and for the rest of eternity," he promised her, pulling away after pressing a quick and agonizing kiss to her lips. "Right now, I want to just please you. It's gonna be a long night."

_Throw your clothes on the floor,_

_I'm gonna take my clothes off too._

_I made plans to be with you._

_Girl, whatever you ask, you know I will do._

Rose was quivering at this point; her skin on fire and Draco sat above her; smirking, getting pleasure from the slow torture she was enduring. Slowly, he trailed his hands up her legs, painfully slipping the dress up from her thighs and leaning forward to softly kiss the top of her green lacy knickers. He was already hard; trying his best to ignore it from the moment he saw her kick off her heels, but once he saw her knickers, a loud groan of approval left him.

"Do you like it?"

Leaving his head where it was – inhaling the scent of her arousal and feeling how soaked she was – Draco rolled his eyes up to meet hers. Her cheeks were flushed, and she was panting; leaning up on her elbows and staring down at him; assessing his thoughts on her chosen lingerie. "I love it."

Proud of herself for causing Draco's voice to become hoarse and his lips to become dry, she shyly smiled, "It's another present for you."

"Anymore presents like this and I won't be able to do what I want," he replied huskily.

"And what to you want to do?"

"Seduce you."

Squealing out in delight as Draco's tongue suddenly licked the dampness of her knickers, Rose couldn't control it anymore. Bucking her hips up, she gripped the sheets of their shared bed and shouted out in agony when he pulled away from her; glaring up at the smirking Draco, she saw that his eyes were darkened with desire and watching her every movement. He continued his slow torture of removing her wedding dress; stopping every couple of seconds to kiss her belly and tug on the green snake colored navel ring with his teeth. If she thought she was being tortured then she had no idea what she was doing to him. Although he was the one administrating all of this, he was painfully hard in his trousers.

"Draco," she whined; needing to be touched already.

"We're almost there, love," he assured her, lifting the dress over her head and tossing it across the room, not caring about where it landed. He could always fix it up with his wand later. His eyes widened at the sight of her breasts. Because Rose didn't really trust herself, she suggested that they not see each other nude. Draco would walk around in his boxers and she would often change in front of him, but her most intimate parts were always hidden from view. The sight of the rounded globes staring directly at him with erect caramel colored nipples had his mouth watering.

Rose was squirming beneath him. One hand pinched at one nipple while the other was quickly engulfed in the warmth of his mouth. She tried to roll her hips, but it only stopped his attack on her breasts. "Draco," she whined.

"Almost," he promised her.

Rose watched in disappointment as Draco stood up off the bed. Soon though, she was grinning at what she saw. He was stripping. Temporarily ignoring the burning sensation to be touched, she watched him; her eyes hungrily assessing his every motion. His movements were quick and lucid. Most of his buttons had already been undone both from when she first saw him as she walked down the aisle mixed in with when she undid a few as well. He only had to release three buttons, and she was reaching out to touch his bare chest. It was smooth from where she refused to allow him any curls, all the way to the creasing lines of his abs until it reached the pale blonde curls leading to where she really wanted him to strip already.

Draco was enjoying this; watching the hunger in his wife's eyes as he took his time leisurely undoing his belt buckle, annoying her by taking the belt out from the pants, and then swinging his hips in a strip tease style while pulling down the pants. Rose lost her breath with the sight in front of her. She's always seen Draco in his boxers; it was how he preferred to walk around all the time, but never before had she seen it tented. He was just as excited as she was. The wet spot meeting the tip of the tented silver silky fabric told her so. He wanted her right now, just as much as she needed him.

Draco nearly lost his mind. Rose decided she didn't want to play it his way anymore and quickly took her own knickers off; tossing them across the room. "Patience, love," Draco chuckled, jumping back when she tried to pounce on him. "Tell me what you want," he told her; hunger in his eyes.

_I'll make love to you like you want me to_

_And I'll hold you tight baby, all through the night._

_I'll make love to you when you want me to_

_And I will not let go 'til you tell me to._

"You," she told him. "I want you. On. This. Bed. Right. Now!"

She was beautiful. The sight before him was definitely worth having no sex or foreplay for four years, and it was even more worth cutting out every other female from his life; Rose was definitely worth it. Taking out the pins from Rose's hair, Draco moved back to drink in her sight. Cascades of curls blended in with the pin straightness, painting the black and silver pillows an almost golden crimson color. With her hair sprawled around her, and her mouth hanging slightly open as she panted, Rose had her eyes half lidded with the ecstasy he _wasn't _giving her for the moment. The makeup was still on her face and her knees were bent, giving him an easier access to her. Grinning as he lowered his head, he saw that she still shaved. But unlike that moment four years ago when he last touched her, she now had a thin strip of caramel colored curls leading to her wetness.

He was curious. Everything about her reminded him of caramel; her hair, her eyes, her skin color, and now her pubic hair as well. He wondered if she tasted like caramel as well. "Oh fuck!" Rose hadn't been expecting that. The tip of Draco's tongue made its way through the wiry strings and over her clit. The tiny little pink bead was hardened to the point that Draco thought he could actually smell the blood pounding its way out. He allowed his tongue to explore her; getting familiar with her taste. She tasted of peaches, making him wonder if she rubbed her lotion there as well; it was intoxicating, making him drunk off the mixtures of her dripping liquids and her possible lotion. Above him, Rose was clinging at the sheets, trying to hold on for her dear life; not sure if she wanted to cry out in agony or pleasure. He was taking his time with her, but it felt so good.

Deciding that he would be kind – and rush the release of his own throbbing pain – Draco grabbed onto Rose's thighs, wrapping her legs around his neck then he dove in; eliciting a shriek of pleasure from above him as he nibbled on her clit. After a couple of seconds of sucking on it, Rose moved her hands to his hair; gripping onto it, pushing his tongue deeper into her heat. "Oh god…" she cried out, shutting her eyes and arching her back. "Draco…" his name spilt from her lips, sounding like a prayer. She could feel him playing inside of her: one minute he was licking her, then he was sucking her, then he was kissing her, then he would bite her; never sticking to just one thing, causing her toes to curl in sequence with her insides. "I'm…" she tried to call out, but her breath was so short, "Baby…" she wanted to warn him, but she couldn't find the words.

Draco knew what she was trying to say, and he could feel her tightening around his tongue; "Cum for me, love," he spoke against her, allowing his hot breath to add fire to the flames. That was all she needed. With one last lick along her slit, Rose thrusted her hips up against Draco's face and called out his name while her fluids soaked his face up. He was in heaven. After four years of not having sex; he found his wife was a squirter. Licking up every drop, Draco groaned his approval of her taste. Maybe it wasn't a lotion after all? Lotion shouldn't dictate what your juices taste like. Peaches were just the natural scent and taste of his wife.

_Baby, tonight is your night_

_And I will do you right._

_Just make a wish on your night;_

_Anything that you ask,_

_I will give you the love of your life._

Rose dropped her legs, and stared up at the ceiling. She tried to catch her breath, but it wasn't working. Draco was still licking her. Using what little strength she had left, she sat up and grabbed onto his hair. Grinning down at him when his eyes met hers, she roughly yanked him to her; attacking his mouth with hers. Draco almost came right there. Never before had any female offered to kiss him right after what he just did, but she didn't seem to give him a chance. She was kissing him with such raw passion that Draco almost felt like he didn't need the sex; almost!

"Take it off," Rose growled into his mouth, tasting herself on him. "Now!"

Not breaking the kiss, Draco happily obliged, kicking his boxers somewhere onto the floor. "What are you doing?"

Gripping the tie – the only piece of clothing left on the bed – Rose flipped them over so that she was on top of Draco. Smirking down at him, she slapped his hand away when he tried to stop her. She didn't care if he was trying to spoil her for their first time; it was his wedding night as well. He shouldn't be the only one doing all the teasing and giving all the pleasure. Diving forward again, she bit his bottom lip and pulled away; tugging it with her, causing Draco to make some sort of purring sound. Watching as his lip sprung back to his mouth as she released it, Rose leaned back in and started to suck at it; soothing away the pain she knew she must have just caused him.

Draco was writhing beneath her; he knew that she liked to bite when they kissed, but this time it was different. She wasn't only biting him during a kiss, she was claiming him. She kissed him with raw passion and bit him with even rawer passion. Her kisses and bites were mixed between lust and desire; need and want. Her lips traveled over that throbbing point right on his collarbone, and soon he knew he was marked. She was rougher than he was when it came to staking her claim, but he loved it; it had him thrusting his hips into the air, trying to feel some sort of friction. The soft tongue swirled over each tiny pink nipple; earning a gasp from him as she nipped at it before moving lower.

Draco tried to stop her; he didn't want her to have to do anything to him tonight. It was her wedding night; he wanted to spoil her, to show her what she would get every night for the rest of her life, but her hands were still wrapped around his tie, tugging on it every now and then. He couldn't say anything; every time he tried she would yank on it to the point that he would cry out. He could feel her tongue on his lower stomach now; just past his belly button; sucking and biting then licking to soothe the pain.

Rose reached her destination. He was beautiful; more beautiful than any other man she had ever seen before in her life. A trail of pale blonde curls started from the v-line, and the V went all the way to a patch of more curls right above the base of his erection. He wasn't the biggest she'd seen or even the thickest, but it was the only one she wanted. He couldn't have been more than seven inches long and an inch and a half thick, but her mouth was already watering for it. A translucent pearl of pre-cum sat at the top of him, and she licked it; he tasted of oranges and salt for some reason. It must be that new healthy fruit diet of his.

Draco jerked his hips when he felt her tongue. Just as quickly as it touched him though, it was gone. Looking down at her, he groaned out. Swinging her hips towards the shut door as she leaned over him, Rose was smirking at him. Watching him as she slowly took both her hands off his tie, and moved it lower, she kept her gaze on him; daring him to look away. One hand held down his stomach while the other continued lower. Rolling her thumb over his tip, Rose kept her eyes on his and Draco gasped. Rubbing her hand over him with the pre-cum as lubrication, Rose didn't even look down to see what she was doing, and his eyes were already slowly closing.

Satisfied at the reaction she got, Rose finally looked down at the task in hand; literally. Holding him down with one hand, she allowed her other to get used to his feeling. She learned over her years as a one night type of girl that guys all feel and taste differently. Draco was smooth like silk and it allowed her hand to caress him perfectly. Wanting a taste of him, she took his tip in her mouth and Draco bucked his hips again.

"Oh fuck!" he shouted, feeling the warmth of her mouth close over him. "Sorry, love," he quickly apologized once he realized he bucked his hips. Her only response was to hum and take more of him into her mouth, which caused him to only want to buck his hips some more. The hand that was stroking his base moved down to play with his balls, and Draco choked out words when he felt Rose take him whole. His hands moved to her hair and he ran his fingers through it, not knowing what else to do with his hands. Rose lifted her head up, trailing his entire length with her tongue along the way, before quickly dropping on him once more. She continued doing that until she felt him thrust into her mouth once more. "Rose," he gasped out, trying to move her away, "Love, I'm going to…"

"Do it," she said, looking up at him, "Cum for me baby. I want you to."

Screaming his wife's name out, Draco felt her graze her teeth along his length before quickly taking him whole again. She began to suck him deeply until soon her name was his own personal mantra followed by a few non-existent words, and he was shooting down her throat. Feeling the hot thick good pouring down her throat, Rose didn't stop her administrations on him; she milked him for everything he was worth, before finally pulling away. Licking her lips, she smirked up at him. Now he was the one panting out of breath and squirming on the bed. She noted that he tasted like oranges and salt; a taste she was craving again.

_I'll make love to you like you want me to_

_And I'll hold you tight baby, all through the night._

_I'll make love to you when you want me to_

_And I will not let go 'til you tell me to._

Draco yanked her up to him. Tasting himself on her lips; he found it was something he didn't mind. He would kiss her no matter what she just put into her mouth. Rose was smirking against his lips and he growled into her mouth, nipping her tongue and earning a moan of approval from her. Flipping them over so that he was on top again, Draco skipped the teasing. His hand went quickly past her breasts, and down to where he wanted to be the most. Feeling her with his fingers, he heard her gasp and he grinned. His tongue began to trace her lips; following the curves of her dimples and he thrusted his finger into her.

"Draco," she called out his name, arching her back once more.

It didn't matter that he just came the hardest he ever had before, Draco was still hard. "No more teasing," he told her, pulling his finger out, and trailing it along her belly. "I'm going to make love to you now," he said, "All through the night. Are you ready?"

"Oh god, yes."

Draco guided himself into her, and he watched as his wife's mouth formed the perfect little 'O'; clenching his cheeks to hold himself together before he erupted again so soon, Draco felt her warmth accept him in. She was so tight; too tight, that he could feel every pulsing motion from her; her wetness and his cum worked together to make the perfect lube so that he slid out quite easily. Rose's nails were clawing his back and he pushed back into her. It took a couple of seconds, but they got a rhythm together. Draco would pull out, and Rose would thrust her hips to meet him. Draco continued to suck on her bottom lip while sighs and shouts escaped her.

"Oh god," she shouted out, clenching her eyes, "Draco!"

Draco could feel her tighten around him as her nails burned into his back and she arched up, "Cum, love," he told her.

Rose heard him, and she obliged. "Draco!" she called out her husband's name as he continued to ride into her, allowing her, her orgasm.

"Rose!" he shouted her name a moment after. He tried to hold it in, but once he felt her lose control, he lost his as well. They met their orgasm together, both riding it out in ecstasy.

Rose felt the pressure from him join her own release, and she lifted her legs up; her toes curling, and her back pushing them both up from the bed. Draco moved his tongue from her mouth to her ear, and he was lightly nibbling on the lobe. Bringing their bodies back down, she wrapped her arms around him, not wanting him to move from her; he responded by lifting her up so that he could embrace her as well. The only sounds were that of their own heartbeats and their breaths trying to catch up with them.

"I'm ready to last longer now," Draco spoke up, breaking the silence.

Opening her eyes, Rose saw him watching her; his lips hovered right above hers. "And when I wake up, you'll still be here?" she teased.

Smirking, Draco lined himself up to her again. Just as his tip pressed into her, and she gasped, Draco whispered in her ear, "Who said anything about sleeping, Mrs. Malfoy? I told you already; I plan on making love to you all night."

_I'll make love to you like you want me to_

_And I'll hold you tight baby, all through the night._

_I'll make love to you when you want me to_

_And I will not let go 'til you tell me to._

**There! This is it! The 'epilogue,' I'm a bit disappointed that it's pau now. I want to keep adding more to it, but then it'll just become a junk story… I hope you guys loved it and that this was worth the build-up that I had towards it(: I know it's a bit sappy, and a lot of smutty, but that's the only kind of sappy smut there is(: I cried while writing this because I know its pau now. **

**I love all of you who stuck with this story from the first chapter, and for all of you who reviewed, favorited, and alerted this story! I hope you all loved it! Thank you for reading it and erm… Squirrel!**


	11. Beautiful Mess

**Hello my lovelies! So I was editing this story (which is pau now, so you guys should go back and read it again because there shouldn't be any more errors as far as I noticed) and I still wasn't too happy with how I ended it… I mean I LOVED the ending, but I still feel that there should be more… so here you go… this is why you got a notification for this chapter, because I decided to add more to it. As always, the disclaimer shall be at the end of the chapter… and if you're reading any of my other stories, then they're slowly being fixed up and new chapters are being written(:**

Beautiful Mess

_Going out of my mind these days_

_Like I'm walking 'round in a haze._

_I can't think, I can't concentrate_

_And I need a shave._

Hearing a chiming sound coming from somewhere in the manor, Draco stared at the empty spot on the bed, and he groaned. It's been like that for weeks now… he went to sleep alone, and he woke up alone. As use as he was to it by now, it was still weird sleeping without Rose in his arms. Most nights he missed her, and some nights he would relish in the fact that he had an oversized bed all to himself without having to worry about her stealing all the covers or trying to take his pillow right from under his head.

"Tiger!" he shouted.

Instantly, a two foot tall house-elf appeared. Tiger matched the name given to her by Rose, because of the faded out scars that she had across her face and body from her old masters. Wiping the hem of her pink rose colored pillow case that ended at her wobbly knees, on her forehead; the house-elf looked up at him, "Master called, Tiger?"

"Yes, Tiger," Draco coughed, trying to snuggle in with his pillow to try and go back to sleep for at least a couple of minutes, "Is anyone at the door?"

Tiger frowned, "No, Master."

"Then where is that blasted chiming sound coming from?"

Looking up at her master for only a quick second, Tiger quickly lowered her violet colored eyes in fear that Draco would be able to see that she thought he was insane. "Tiger does not know, Master. Tiger does not hear a chiming sound."

Just as his house-elf spoke to him, though, Draco heard it again. "Right there, Tiger… do you not hear it?"

Trembling in fear of what her master would do to her, Tiger bravely shook her head, "N-No Master, Tiger does not hear anything."

Sensing his house-elf's fear, Draco sighed and sat up, "Very well. You may go back to whatever it was you were doing before I called you."

"Thank you, Master."

He was losing his mind; that was the only thing there was to it – he was simply just losing his bloody mind. Climbing out of bed, Draco looked over at the stand next to the bed, and he smiled down at the picture frame on it. Reaching out, he grabbed it off the stand, and allowed his fingers to gracefully graze along the carefully carved cherry oak frame that was given to him and Rose from Hagrid on their one-year anniversary. The couple in the picture was laughing about something that had him smiling, and thinking back to that day.

That picture was taken the day they were married; Rose looked breathtakingly beautiful in her wedding gown, and he himself looked quite dashing in his tuxedo. There was a bit of cake on Rose's nose, and she was trying to prevent a coaxing Draco from licking it off of her. Just in the edge of the picture you could see Ginny and Blaise's two year old daughter, Serena, swiping some frosting off of the cake. That seemed so long ago now – four years ago to be exact. They were both thirty now, and it seemed like ages had passed by since they both promised their lives to each other in front of the people they both loved and cherished.

Deciding that his day wouldn't go by any quicker unless he got a move on it, Draco put the frame back down and scratched at his hair. Yawning as he reached his bathroom, he turned and looked at himself in the mirror: his eyes were red from his lack of sleep, and his hair was much shaggier than it should be. He remembered a time when Rose used to run her fingers through his hair all day, and argue with him when he complained that he wanted to cut it. According to Rose, no male should ever have his hair shorter than an inch above his shoulders. Well, his hair was slowly starting to reach his shoulder blades now, and he never found the time to take care of it like he used to. There was once a time when Draco Malfoy prided himself on his hair, and now it was just a nuisance.

There was a loud popping sound, and Tiger's voice came from behind him, "Master, it is already six-thirty. You need to be in the office in fifteen minutes for your meeting with Mountain-Water Company."

"Thank you, Tiger."

Staring into his reflection, Draco sighed. This was his worst case yet since he became a lawyer those many ten years ago, and it didn't help with his already ragged appearance. Quickly brushing his teeth and scrubbing his face, Draco stared into the reflection of a man that he still didn't quite know. He needed to shave. He was starting to get a little chin strap of pale blonde hair, and it was really quite annoying. Running out of the room, Draco threw on the first suit that he could find, and shouted for Tiger to stop that bloody chiming sound before he returned home from work.

_I go to work and I look tired,_

_The boss man says "Son, you're gonna get fired,_

_This ain't your style."_

_And behind my coffee cup, I just smile._

Thanking his assistant for the large cup of coffee that he now had in his hands, Draco appreciated the roasted hazelnut aroma that flooded his nostrils, while he shut his eyes and took in a deep breath. Using only one hand to pat down his hair that he forgot to brush, and threw into a rubber-band to make a quick ponytail, Draco quickly made his way towards the room where his clients were waiting for him.

"Draco."

Stopping in his tracks, Draco turned around and saw his boss standing right outside of his office. "Yes, Mr. Jox?"

"You look a bit tired, Son."

Draco nodded his head, "Well, yes, I haven't really been able to sleep since-"

"And your suit is all wrinkled," reaching into his robes, Mr. Jox pulled out his wand, and rolled his eyes, "Dear Merlin, Son, you're a bloody wizard, act like it sometimes."

Looking down as his wrinkled suit quickly smoothed itself out, Draco looked back up at his boss. He understood why Mr. Jox was on his toes; they all were. This Mountain-Water Company was their highest client right now, and if they went down they would take most of the wizarding world with them. Everyone's jobs and lives depended on this one company right now, and for some reason they requested that Draco was the lawyer to help them win their case against St. Mungos. All in all, it was extremely stressful for everyone. "Thank you, sir."

"I watched you in yesterday's meeting with them, Draco. You are the best lawyer that we have in this wizarding world, but you're letting yourself fall. You need to get yourself together. If you keep zoning out or falling asleep during meetings, then I'm sorry Son, but I'm going to have to let you go. I mean, I understand how it is when-"

"-Mr. Malfoy," Draco's assistant, Becky, chose that moment to run up to them. Pale blue eyes were glued to the clipboard right in front of her face while she frantically addressed Draco, "I'm sorry Mr. Malfoy, but you need to hurry. The meeting starts in only one minute, and Mr. Walters is starting to get a bit crazed in there."

Lifting the cup up to his lips, Draco took a huge sip from his coffee, and nodded his head when his boss told him that they would discuss it later. Allowing Becky to pull him towards the office, Draco allowed the coffee to wake him up a bit, while smiling to himself.

_What a beautiful mess,_

_What a beautiful mess I'm in._

_Spending all my time with you,_

_There's nothing else, I'd rather do._

It's been three weeks and two days since this almost-zombified Draco appeared. It was the ending of the first week when his boss started threatening to fire him, but he didn't care. He was Draco Malfoy; he only had a job because he didn't want to have to depend on his family's inheritance for all of his life. And besides, Rose still worked her job. At least, she did up until a month ago. It took a lot of begging, and a lot of persuasion, but she finally agreed to not go back to work for a couple of years. And even if they didn't have the Malfoy or Black inheritance to fall back on, once word got out that Draco Malfoy was looking for a job, companies from all over the world would be swooping in to claim him as their own. Then again, he and Blaise were always talking about opening their own business, and he knew that Rose was secretly plotting with Pansy to open their own business as well. He and Blaise wanted to start a sort of little ninja-wizard training gym, whereas Rose and Pansy wanted to open up a shop that sold muggle clothing, and wizard accessories. There was talk about books, and other things in there as well – a thrat shop, or grift shop, or something like that.

Mr. Jox could threatened to fire him as much as he wanted to, Draco didn't pay any mind to the tiny little man's threats – he had much better things going on in his life. He was in a mess, but he couldn't think of anything more beautiful than this mess he was in.

Three weeks and two days ago, his beautiful wife gave birth to his precious-beautiful daughter, and there was nothing Draco would rather do than spend all of his time with the little pink bundle of joy who already had him wrapped around her fingers, toes, and entire face.

_What a sweet addiction_

_That I'm caught up in_

_Cause I can't get enough,_

_Can't stop the hunger for your love._

Cherish Narcissa Malfoy was the light of Draco's world. Sure, he no longer knew what slept felt like, and sure he and his wife no longer slept at the same times, or even in the same bed most nights, and so what if his clothing were wrinkled or he had an annoying little chinstrap beard and his hair was no longer being brushed or washed? He had a daughter now, and nothing else mattered to him.

"Do you need a potion to stay awake, Mr. Malfoy?" Becky asked right outside of the office door.

"No thank you, Becky."

"Are you sure?" she asked him. "You look a little tired. I know when Robby was born; Marcus and I would go crazy all the time because we never got any sleep."

Draco shook his head again, and smiled politely. "I'm fine. Rose knows how important these meetings are for the company, so she's been sleeping in the nursery these past nights. I'm pretty sure she made Tiger put a spell up so I couldn't hear Cherish's screaming as well."

Becky chuckled, "I remember doing that during Marcus's Quidditch training weeks as well. I thought he was going to kill me when he found out."

"The screaming and the crying doesn't bother me," Draco assured her. "And I know it didn't bother Marcus either. I love hearing my daughter making any sorts of sounds even throughout the night. I'm just so bloody tired all the time though, even when I can't hear her. I don't like sleeping without Rose next to me."

Becky nodded her head, and leaned in closer to whisper. "I know that the wizarding world frowns upon it, but I know that most muggles prefer to sleep with their babies on the bed with them. Maybe that will help you to sleep? You can put Cherish right between both you and Rose, so that way you'll have both of them with you, and Rose can still feed her when she wakes in the middle of the night."

Entering the office, Draco sat down and opened up his briefcase to start this morning's meeting. Mr. Walters instantly began going over the plans on how to attack St. Mungos, and make it known that they screwed up on his magical surgery, giving him purple dragon blood instead of the blue dragon blood like he requested during the transfer, and how it's all their fault that he accidentally spilt too much porcupine needles into the fresh mountain water that they sell in the muggle world. Draco took the notes as Mr. Walters spoke, but all he could see were those perfect, beautiful silver eyes that opened up every time he entered a room.

_What a beautiful mess,_

_What a beautiful mess I'm in._

"Mr. Malfoy! Mr. Malfoy… Mr. Malfoy!"

Looking up from the notes that now had his daughter's face scribbled all over it, Draco saw that everyone in the office was now staring at him. Standing up, Draco put all his papers away, closed up his briefcase and straightened his back. "I'm sorry Mr. Walters," Draco said, then pointed at Blaise whose eyes were as wide as saucers, "But I need to go home right now. Blaise here is perfectly applicable in handling everything that needs to be done."

"Draco, mate," Blaise hissed at him.

Grinning, Draco said, "Bring the kids by later, Blaise. I've got to see my wife and daughter right now."

_This morning I put salt in my coffee._

_I put my shoes on the wrong feet._

_I'm losing my mind, I swear._

_It might be the death of me, but I don't care._

Looking up from where he was standing in the kitchen, Draco grinned when he saw the love of his life walking towards him. Wearing one of his old shirts that fell only to her waist, Rose had his Naruto house-slippers on her feet, and was yawning into her hands. Her hair was mangled, and bushy as it fell to her thighs, and her eyes were as blotchy as his were.

"There's my beautiful girl," Rose announced, walking over to Draco and reaching her hands out for the one month old in his lap.

"Uh-uh," Draco shook his head, keeping Cherish out of her reach. "You've had her for the three weeks and two days that I was working at that blasted office. She's mine now."

Rose rolled her eyes, and puckered her lips, "And there's my loving husband that I adore so much."

"What did you do?"

Pulling away when she saw that Draco wasn't going to kiss her, Rose held her hands dramatically to her chest, "I'm appalled, babe. Why do I have to do anything?"

"Because you only suck up to me when you've done something wrong."

"Well, I didn't do anything wrong," she replied, yawning again. "When did Cherish wake up?"

"Two hours ago," he told her. "I was already up, so I grabbed her before she could start screaming. I heard you waking up all through the night to feed her, so I decided to let you sleep in a bit, and just make her a bottle."

Rose grinned at his words. "You really are my loving husband that I adore so much. You spoil me too much."

Standing up, Draco grinned. Making sure to keep a tight grip on the baby in his arms, he pressed his lips to Rose's, "Why don't you sit down, love. I'll have Tiger make you something to eat."

Sitting at the table while Tiger began cooking at the stove, Rose watched Draco with Cherish. When he came home an hour after leaving for work the week before, he thought that she would be livid with him, but all she could do was jump on him, and plaster kisses all over his face. Sure, she thought he was stupid, but he truly was the best husband in the world. Rose felt guilty that Draco never slept as much as he should or that he was always late for work or dragging himself everywhere, so she started to sleep in the nursery with Cherish, and ordered Tiger to place a silencing spell on the room just to make sure that Draco slept through the night. Apparently it didn't work though – Draco could still hear the chiming bell from the crib's mobile every morning.

That first night that Draco stayed home though, he told her to go back to sleep on their bed, and to bring Cherish with her. That was the first night they all slept together as a family, and since then, Draco refused to let Cherish out of his sight, which only meant that now he was even more tired than he was before.

"Aaaaggghhh!"

Laughing when she saw Draco spit his coffee out all over the floor, Rose spit out her orange juice. "What the hell just happened?" she questioned through her laughter.

Scowling, Draco looked at the one month old who looked as if she were trying to laugh at him as well. "I put salt in my coffee instead of sugar."

"Oh you poor thing," Rose continued to laugh. Standing up, she walked over and took Cherish from him. "You wanna stay with Mummy while Daddy takes a shower, hmm, baby girl?"

Standing up from the floor where he was just sitting with Cherish, Draco shook his head. "That's almost as bad as when I put on the wrong shoes yesterday before going out to the supermarket."

Chuckling now, Rose reached out and kissed Draco's lip, "It just shows how much you really do help me out though, thank you, Draco."

Grinning against his wife's lips, Draco purred, "I love you, Rose."

"And I love you, Draco."

At that moment, Cherish decided to whine, causing the couple to laugh once more. Moving his lips down to his daughter's forehead, Draco chuckled. "And I love you too, as well, my darling Cherish."

_What a beautiful mess,_

_What a beautiful mess I'm in._

_Spending all my time with you,_

_There's nothing else, I'd rather do._

_What a sweet addiction_

_That I'm caught up in_

_Cause I can't get enough,_

_Can't stop the hunger for your love._

"Draco!"

Draco quickly lifted his head up. Cherish was lying next to him on the ground, her toys were spread out all around them, and she was chewing on a baldheaded monkey doll that Louis won for her from a muggle fair. The thirteen-week old baby was giggling at the monkey's screeching sounds every time she bit at its mouth. Looking around the room, he saw that there were baby bottles scattered all over the floor from when he was too lazy to soak every one after each feeding, and there were Chinese boxes from when he was too lazy to cook his own lunch.

"Draco!"

Rose's voice seemed to be coming closer to him now, but his wand was too far away. There was no way that he would be able to – "Hey, love!"

Rose's eyes widened as she took in the living room. There was a large pink and silver quilt laid out on the floor that had her daughter and husband lying on it, and the rest of the floor was covered in mixtures of toys, bottles, and Chinese food. Sighing as she saw everything, Rose dropped the bags onto the floor. "Have a busy day, did you?"

Draco smiled, "Cherish really likes the monkey that Louis won for her from that time that Bill and Fleur took their kids to that muggle fair."

"That looks pretty comfortable down there," Rose announced.

Draco nodded his head, and patted the spot right next to him, "It is," he looked down at Cherish, "Isn't it, baby?"

Cherish responded with a gurgling sound and another screech from the monkey. Chuckling, Rose walked over and threw herself down next to Draco. Placing her head on his back, she stared down at her daughter. "Hi my baby girl, did you miss Mummy?"

Draco continued lay there on the floor, his stomach was starting to hurt from being in that position in hours, but right now he was in ecstasy. He understood now, why Blaise begged Ginny for another one right after Serena was born, and why they didn't stop after having Blazen. Even after Damon was born, Blaise wanted another one. When Dean and Hermione announced that even they were having their third child after having Ethan and Patrick, he thought they were insane, but now he understood. After only one child, he already wanted to have his third or fourth one. Everyone had at least two kids, and he wanted another one already too.

"How was shopping with the girls?" he asked, after feeling Rose shift her head so that it was now resting on his arse instead of his back.

"It was fun," she told him. "Thank you for watching Cherish while I did that. I haven't been out in ages."

"You're home earlier than I thought you would be."

Rose nodded her head, and shifted her body again so her chin was now resting on the back of Draco's neck. She continued to play with the giggling Cherish. "Seamus called Pansy because Morgan started throwing up all over the house."

"Is she alright?"

"Yeah, we all apparated there as soon as he said the magic words – well, they apparated, I side apparated with Luna. It seems that Frankie and Louis thought it would be funny to put frog slime in Victoire's play makeup, but they didn't think that Morgan would decide to eat the makeup."

Draco cocked an eyebrow. "Seamus was watching Bill and Fleur's kids today?"

Nodding her head, Rose moved to sit up so she could face Draco. "Fleur was out with us today, and Bill had to work. Blaise already has his own four to deal with and Ron and Harry had to work so Molly had those seven kids, so Seamus offered to watch the kids so Fleur wouldn't have to worry."

"Where was Dominique throughout all of this?" Draco questioned.

Rose started to laugh. "She said that she saw her brother and Frankie putting the slime in her sister's makeup, so she decided to get back at them. Frankie is now the only four year old boy I know who can sing the opera, and let's put it this way, Louis can pass as a Metamorphagus for a while."

_What a beautiful mess, _

_What a beautiful mess I'm in._

_Is it your eyes? Is it your smile?_

_All I know is that you're driving me wild._

Rose was the leader. Hermione, Pansy, Ginny, Lavender and Luna were all right behind her; all of them had their hands on their hips, and Draco was truly frightened right now. He cradled the infant to his chest, knowing that they wouldn't dare do anything to him while he was holding his daughter. Today was the day that Pansy and Rose was going to check out a location for their shop in Diagon Alley, and all the girls went with them to see it. Seamus brought over his two kids while Ron brought his four, Harry brought his three, Blaise brought his four, and Dean brought his three. The guys decided that they would all hang out at the manor and let the kids run around crazily and do whatever they wanted, while they all fawned over Cherish. Other than Cherish, little James was the youngest one at one years old, and all of their kids seemed to be run over by boys.

Harry and Luna had Jeffrey who was five, Yama who was three, and then James who was one; they were all boys. Then there were Ron and Lavender's four who were also all boys: four year old Ransten, three year old twins Garwin and Albert, and then two year old Steve. Of course Ginny and Blaise had four year old Serena, three year old Blazen, two year old Damon and then one year old Tazier, who is four months older than James. Seamus and Pansy were the only other ones to have a daughter, and that was two year old Morgan, and then they had four year old Frankie. Dean and Hermione also had only boys: four year old Patrick, three year old Ethan, and two year old John. Out of all of their kids there were thirteen boys and only four girls, so the guys all wanted to fawn over Cherish as much as possible.

Tiger made the kids all chicken strips and chips for lunch with some homemade strawberry velvet milkshakes. Everything was going perfect until – "You gave my daughter ice-cream!" Rose shrieked.

Draco looked at his friends for help, but they all grabbed their kids and quickly escaped the women's wrath for now. "Well… love… you see… what happened was… well… you see… Jeff wanted to-"

"Jeff?" Luna glared at Draco, "Are you saying that my son was the one who gave Cherish the ice-cream?"

"Are you seriously blaming a five year old, Draco?" Pansy hissed at him.

"That's just bloody pathetic," Lavender also hissed at him.

"No…" Draco quickly shook his head, "See… Jeff wanted to know why Cherish didn't have a milkshake either, and I… well, I told him it's cause she's only five months old, then Harry said that he's been sneaking all his kids ice-cream and such from when they were only three months. And Blaise said that when all his kids were only two months old, he was already giving them gravy with some mashed potatoes, and Seamus and Ron agreed. Dean also said that-"

"We've heard enough!" came the growls from every woman whose husband was mentioned. "We'll call you later, Rose," they all hissed out in unison then disappeared.

Rose continued to stand there, her lips pursed together with her arms crossed over her chest, "Well… what the bloody hell happened? Why is there ice-cream all on my daughter's face?"

Draco looked down at the squirming baby in his arms, and he found himself smiling down at her even though he would most likely be killed within a couple of minutes. Cherish was truly the most perfect little baby that he had ever seen before, even compared to all of his friends kids, and they all knew that it was true, no matter what they said, his kid was cuter than theirs. Cherish was just as pale as both her parents, turning out more of an alabaster color than ivory though. She got her mother's catlike eyes, but her father's quicksilver color. Her hair was already pinstraight like Draco's, but the color of a raven who had been dipped into caramel, like Rose's. Draco argued with it in the beginning, but then eventually gave in as long as they were green… so his daughter now had tiny little green emeralds piercing each ear. Wearing a pink dragon decorated nappy with a green and white striped little dress that Draco wasn't really planning on having Rose see, Cherish sat in her father's arms, chubby and content. Decorating the widened smile on her face was the evidence from the strawberry velvet milkshake that her father and uncles were all slowly feeding to her.

Draco sighed and looked back up at Rose, "I'm sorry, love, but she just kept trying to reach out for it, and I didn't know how to tell her no. And I mean, she already eats baby food and that rice-cereal thing, so I figured why not… all the other guys said that their kids already had ice-cream by the time they were five months, so I didn't see anything wrong with it. And she liked it when Seamus gave her the first sip of it; you should have seen her face when Seamus put that spoon into her mouth, she just lit up, and then-"

"Draco," Rose sighed, "Shut up!" when Draco immediately stopped talking, Rose slowly walked over to him. Wiping Rose's mouth, she took the baby from Draco's arms, and leaned in so she could press her lips to Draco's. "I should have known that something like this would happen when you leave six men alone with fourteen kids. Thanks for watching them. Cherish and I are going to take a bath. Are you going to join us?"

_What a beautiful mess,_

_What a beautiful mess I'm in._

_Spending all my time with you,_

_There's nothing else, I'd rather do._

_What a sweet addiction_

_That I'm caught up in_

_Cause I can't get enough,_

_Can't stop the hunger for your love._

Most people would think it was wrong, and a lot of people looked down at this sort of relationship – especially in the wizarding world – but Draco ignored everyone, and luckily for him, so did his wife. It's been eight months since he left his job, and nearly nine months since his daughter was born. With Draco home all of the time, and always hogging Cherish from her, Rose began to get antsy, so now they were here. Rose and Pansy finally opened their thrift shop which sold both muggle and magical things alike, and Draco and Seamus both stayed at home with the kids.

Seamus didn't want to stay home, but he was injured on an Auror mission, and he couldn't go back to work. He still had a large amount of money saved up, and Pansy had her family's inheritance as well, but she was just like Rose, and wanted to do something as well… so here they were… the women were working and the men were raising the kids. Some days Seamus would bring his kids to the manor and some days, Draco would take Cherish over to the Finnigan household, or they would even take them out sometimes.

When everyone set Draco and Rose up for the first time eight years before, no one would have ever imagined that it would get this far – Draco Malfoy and Seamus Finnigan sitting at a park with two strollers next to their laid out blanket, diaper bags, and three kids, while their wives were at work. And they did this on their own; Pansy and Rose didn't force them together or tell them to play nice. Draco looked outside the manor, saw that it was a nice day then floo'd over to Seamus's to see if he wanted to take the kids to the park. Now here they were.

"Daddy, Daddy, Daddy."

Turning to the four year old boy that was now running towards them, Draco smiled when he saw his godson. Frankie Finnigan was the same slightly tanned color as Pansy, but with the same sandy colored hair as Seamus. No one knew whose eyes he had because both his parents had green eyes, and his eyes were identical to them both. The boy decided to dress himself this morning, and was wearing a yellow colored collared shirt with green shorts that reached his knees, and had on red shoes. His hair was messy and in his hands was a bird. "What yeh got there, Son?" Seamus questioned.

"The birdy fell off the tree," the boy replied. Both Seamus and Draco saw the tears in his eyes. "Heal it, Daddy, heal it."

Quickly muttering a healing spell, Seamus laughed when he saw the bird struggling to get free from his son's hands. "Might want ter let it go, buddy, before it hurts yeh."

Nodding his head, the boy quickly took off to let it fly back into the tree that it fell out of. "Unco Dwaco!"

Turning to the tiny two year old who was sitting next to him, Draco grinned, "Yes, love?"

"Can I pway wit Cissy?"

Draco loved his goddaughter. The poor child got stuck with Seamus's paleness and freckles, but she had her mum's catlike jaded eyes, and pinstraight raven hair. Aside from his own daughter, Morgan was definitely the cutest kid in the bunch. Everyone had their favorites aside from their own, and it was no secret that Morgan was his – although he did love all the kids, and he spoiled all of them rottenly. He was definitely the favorite uncle. Dressed in black jean shorts and a red colored halter top, she was the cutest little thing that he saw – aside from his own daughter, of course – with her hair up in pigtails that reached her shoulders. There were tiny little gold balls piercing her ears.

Draco looked down at his own daughter, and he felt the burst of fatherly pride rush through him. This was his child, he helped to create her, she came from him… well, part of him at least. Whenever Rose wasn't around, he loved to dress Cherish up like a miniature Slytherin, just like how Seamus loved to make Morgan into a miniature Gryffindor. Rose's hair was already long enough to be played with, so Draco put tiny little green ribbons in her hair to make pigtails as well, and she had on dark green jean shorts with a lighter green halter top. Another thing that he and Seamus loved to do was make their daughters match. Growing up as boys, they never understood the joys of playing with dolls, but now they understood it, and now they took advantage of it, constantly dressing their daughters up like little matching dolls.

The lunch that Tiger packed for them was in a basket on the side of them and the two father's watched as Morgan played with the now crawling and laughing Cherish, while Frankie would occasionally run up with flowers or bugs for the girls. There were a couple of moments when both Seamus and Draco had to take the bugs out of Cherish's mouth.

Watching as his daughter crawled around the park with his best friend, and former enemies daughter and son, Draco felt a new type of accomplishment. Yeah, he was perfectly content without having a job.

_What a beautiful mess,_

_What a beautiful mess I'm in._

_Spending all my time with you,_

_There's nothing else, I'd rather do._

_What a sweet addiction_

_That I'm caught up in_

_Cause I can't get enough,_

_Can't stop the hunger for your love._

"Draco, babe, wake up!" Opening one eye, Draco found himself staring into the eager eyes of his wife. "The party starts in one hour. Tiger and I just finished setting up, but you need to shower and I need to get Cherish ready before everyone gets here."

Looking down at the reason for his numbed arm, Draco didn't know whether he wanted to smile and celebrate or cry and find someone to lock his daughter up in a tower for him. Today was his daughter's first birthday, and he wasn't ready for her to turn one. It seemed like only yesterday he was quitting his job because she was only three weeks and two days old, but now she was one. She was growing up too fast. They started setting up for the party three hours ago, but he brought Cherish upstairs to take a nap, and he ended up napping with her.

"I'll get her ready," Draco yawned. "Why don't you take a quick nap before everyone gets here?"

"No time," Rose shook her head. "Pansy and Seamus are coming soon to help with the final touches. Are you sure you can get her ready?"

"Yes, love."

"No Slytherin colors, Draco Malfoy."

Rolling his eyes at his wife's retreating back, Draco turned back to the sleeping one year old, and he sighed. He wasn't ready to celebrate her being an entire year old yet. He wanted her to still be a baby that didn't know how to walk or talk yet. He wanted her to still wake them up every three hours because she was hungry. He wanted his little tiny baby back. She was practically a midget-sized adult already. Soon enough, she would be going off to Hogwarts, and he wouldn't be able to watch her grow up anymore. Feeling a sense of regret inside of him, Draco leaned over the bed, and began to poke at her.

"Cherish, wake up, Sweetheart."

Making the same grunting sound that Rose did when you woke her up, Cherish turned her tiny little body away from Draco and tried to cuddle with the pillow.

Draco chuckled, and continued to poke at her. "Wake up, Sweetheart. You need to shower for your party."

Cherish sat up now. "Potty?"

"No, paRty."

Cherish nodded her head eagerly, "Potty, Daddy."

Draco sighed. At least she could say 'Daddy' correctly. "Yes, Sweetheart, a potty just for you. And all your cousins will be here."

Allowing Draco to swoop her into his arms, Cherish perked up when she heard that word. "Cushions? Gun, Key, Alms, Shen, Shen, Won…"

Draco nodded his head, proud of his daughter for understanding the word 'cousin' and for knowing each and every child's name – to a point, of course. But she did know who was who, and although she couldn't pronounce their names, she could run to them when you told her to. Cherish continued to talk throughout their shower, and Draco was grateful that for once, she wasn't freaking out when he shampooed her hair – she was just too excited about getting to play with all of her cousins. Wrapping a towel around his waist once he turned off the water, Draco wrapped a squealing Cherish into her own towel as well, then carried her back into his bedroom. It seemed like Rose had Cherish's things laid out on their bed for him already.

Gently dropping the naked baby onto the bed, Draco quickly got dressed into black jeans and a silver collared shirt. Ignoring his hair for now, he turned back to Cherish who was attempting to put her diaper on herself, but kept falling down instead. Laughing at his daughter's antics, Draco laid her down then drowned her in baby powder. Once the diaper was on, he found himself grinning at the dress that Rose laid out for him.

"Are you almost finished in here?" Rose asked, entering the room.

Turning around, Draco felt his breath leave his body. She was still as beautiful as the day he met her. At thirty-one years old, Rose still looked like the twenty-two year old he met and fell in love with. Wearing only simple black eyeliner with a just a smidge of pink eye shadow, Rose shocked Draco with her green and silver painted nails. Her hair fell to her thighs in a cascade of straightened waves, and the pink and silver strapless dress hugged her five month pregnant belly all the way to her thighs.

"I know how you're always dressing her in green," Rose explained before Draco could even ask. "I _am_ the one who washes the clothes after all, and this child seems to love the color green, so I figured I'd do this for her just the way that I did for you when we got married. I still have the silver though."

Grinning, Draco grabbed Cherish's hand, "Is this why you painted her nails green and silver last night?"

Rose nodded her head, and walked over to the bed. "I can't believe she's one already. It seems like only yesterday I was pushing her out."

Watching as Rose began to dress the giggling one year old, Draco walked behind her and wrapped his arms around her. "And in only four months, you'll be pushing out our son."

Rose smiled as she thought about it. "A daughter and a son… and I didn't have to do this all when I was only twenty-two."

"You know you wanted to," Draco teased.

Rolling her eyes, Rose pulled Cherish up to her, and turned back to Draco. "I love you Draco."

"I love you too, Rose," he told her, kissing her lips.

"Wuv Daddy," Rose cried out in delight. "Wuv Mummy."

Laughing, Rose squeezed Cherish against her chest, "And Mummy loves you too, baby girl."

"And Daddy loves you even more, Sweetheart," Draco added in, kissing his daughter's forehead.

"Draco," Rose scolded, but laughed. "C'mon downstairs already. Pansy them are already here, and Luna arrived with her kids as well. Harry and Ron will be late."

"I'll be down in a minute," Draco told her. "You take Cherish down. I need to do something real quick."

With another head nod and another quick kiss, Rose left the room with Cherish, and Draco dropped himself onto the edge of the bed with a sigh. His daughter was one now. She was running around, eating real foods and talking. Cherish's hair grew to her shoulder blades already and he braided two pigtails, tying them both off with a pink and silver ribbon. Her birthday dress was matching to her mum's, only it had straps instead, and her nails were painted green and silver.

Draco groaned again as he thought about it. Today he celebrated his daughters eighth birthday… tomorrow would be her eighteenth.

Glancing at the ultrasound picture on the nightstand, Draco then grinned. Oh well, at least Cherish will have a brother with her twenty-four seven for six years while she's at Hogwarts.

Standing up, Draco started to make his way towards the door, which would then lead him to the party for his daughter. He still couldn't believe that this all started from a blind date that he didn't even want to go on.

_What a beautiful mess,_

_What a beautiful mess I'm in._

**Disclaimer: Song – Beautiful Mess, Artist – Diamond Rio.**

**So… what did you guys think? Was it worth adding another chapter into it? I was thinking that this story needed a 'family moment' in it, and I really mostly only wanted Draco's POV with his first child, so I thought this song would be perfect for it. I know that this song is about a guy and a chick and love and whatnot, but I thought that it was still cute for a father/daughter thing if you squinted your eyes at it, and I like to think that I made it work(: a lot of the names that I used are names of people that I actually know and whatnot… and I'm one of the ones that sneaks ice-cream to 3 month old babies and whatnot, so I tried to use experience with Cherish. I have this 1 year old who talks sentences already, but she 'abbreviates' cause she can't talk clearly, and I have a 4 year old who literally does dress himself like that for school. His teacher seems to think it's adorable.**

**So review please, I want to know what you guys think of this random addition(:**

**I started this chapter 6-6-12 at 726pm and it was pau 6-6-12 at 1142pm!**


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